Day 023 - 13 Sep 94 - Page 25


     
     1
     2   MS. STEEL:  No. 58 in the Defendants.
     3
     4   MR. MORRIS:  Defendants' documents, Nutrition.  This is:  "Can
     5        you Avoid Cancer?" from the Health Education Authority
     6        England, The Cancer Education Co-ordinating Group, United
     7        Kingdom and Ireland and the Scottish Health Education
     8        Group.  It is about, presumably, avoiding cancer on the
     9        subject of food.  On pages 18 and 19 it has "What you can
    10        do" on the right-hand side, yes?  Their guidance is to
    11        avoid being overweight and to cut down on fats.  Do you
    12        think that is quite a reasonable approach?
    13        A.  Yes.  As we said yesterday, in the situation where you
    14        actually do not know the answer necessarily but where
    15        certain experimental or study of evidence has suggested
    16        that certain aspects of diet may be important, it is only
    17        sensible advice when you are producing a document for the
    18        general public to suggest to them that where you do not
    19        know the answer it would be prudent to reduce your fat
    20        intake, particularly as we know that fat intake and other
    21        diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are
    22        much more strongly related.
    23
    24   Q.   Just on their chart on page 27 of that document under
    25        "Food", this is a chart on prevention of cancer deaths.
    26        In the "Food" they put their cards on the table in this
    27        document in terms of saying that about three per cent of
    28        cancer deaths are definitely preventable that are
    29        attributed to food.  Sorry, of those cancer deaths that
    30        they attribute to food, which is something nearer about 35
    31        per cent of all deaths, three per cent or four per cent or
    32        something, could be definitely preventable and the others
    33        are possibly preventable.  So again they are putting their
    34        cards on the table as they are saying something like 35
    35        per cent of cancer deaths are attributable to diet?
    36        A.  They do not say that, in fact.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Look at the script in the left-hand column,
    39        Mr. Morris.
    40
    41   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  From that script it implies that -- the only
    42        assumption I can make is that the hard green is definitely
    43        preventable.
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  I am not contradicting you.  Maybe you
    46        have read it already, but I want Dr. Arnott to read what
    47        is in the left-hand column.  My photocopy is not very
    48        good, but I assume beneath the solid black hatching which,
    49        I assume, is what you suggest is three per cent in the
    50        food column --- 
    51 
    52   MR. MORRIS:  Yes. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  -- there is some lesser kind of hatching
    55        which has not shown at all before "equals possibly
    56        preventable" on my copy, but seems to go much higher in
    57        the food column.  Is that right?  Can you just hold it up
    58        so I can see?
    59
    60   MR. RAMPTON:  It is green.  We have only black and white.

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