Day 017 - 25 Jul 94 - Page 58
1 Q. Did you say or did you mean something a little similar
before lunch in relation to one of the statements made by
2 Dr. Willett(?) in relation to diet and colon cancer?
A. Yes, indeed.
3
Q. Are you, Dr. Arnott, enthusiastic to reduce the incidence
4 of colon and breast cancer in this country?
A. Certainly, yes.
5
Q. You remember that I indicated that I would ask you for a
6 crude league table before lunch. Can I deal with it this
way: This is not in relation to the advised levels of fat
7 consumption; this is in relation to the validity of a
proposed relationship between diet and a particular
8 cancer. Can I start by suggesting we start at ten and go
down by one. It will be a very broad scale, I know that.
9 What about the relationship between cigarette smoking and
lung cancer? Where do we put that on the scale?
10 A. I would put that as ten.
11 Q. You would put it as ten. Where do we put, I am talking
now about the possibility of a causal relationship --
12 where do we put the relationship between -- I am going to
break this down -- a diet high in fat and breast cancer?
13 A. I would put that at one.
14 Q. A diet high in energy and breast cancer?
A. I would put that at three.
15
Q. A diet high in energy and colorectal cancer?
16
MR. JUSTICE BELL: You mean calorie intake? Maybe they are the
17 same thing.
18 MR. RAMPTON: I meant calorie intake, and when I said "high"
I meant excessive in the sense that the person's intake is
19 exceeding his expenditure; a diet, if your Lordship
prefers, high in calories and cancer of the colon and
20 rectum?
A. I would put that at two.
21
Q. And as between fat and colon cancer, where do we find
22 that?
A. It would be three.
23
Q. Where would you put, if we have a side by side league
24 table, the consumption of large amounts of plant fibre as
a protective agent in relation to either or both of these
25 kinds of cancer?
A. I think I might put that at four.
26
Q. The question his Lordship might ask, at what point in that
27 scale from one to ten ----
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Could we pause a moment? My screen has
stopped. (Pause)
29
MR. RAMPTON: Can we colour this league table now from black at
30 the top ten, smoking and lung cancer, down to white at the
bottom, one or below? Can you answer this? Roughly
