Day 038 - 19 Oct 94 - Page 47
1 certainly not in time for tomorrow. I mean, as I have
2 indicated, I am not even sure at which dilution these
3 products are currently being marketed. That is certainly
4 information I can obtain, but I do not have it at my
5 fingertips.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
8
9 MR. MORRIS: Just on Sunset Yellow, there is also a problem that
10 a particular test -- is this a test that you mentioned
11 before, the three per cent and five per cent of Sunset
12 Yellow? On page 10 you say that -- sorry, I think you have
13 dealt with that, have you not, the background of tumours in
14 the control?
15 A. Was rather high and for that reason is the Committee on
16 Toxicity disregarded. What they did not do is ask for
17 further studies at lower doses in larger groups, which
18 I would have thought would be an appropriate way of trying
19 to clarifying the issue.
20
21 Q. What about the 1989 physician? Do you want to say the
22 significance of that?
23 A. That is just one fragment I found in the scientific
24 literature of a blind, double-blind challenge in which it
25 has been reported that in a particular individual Sunset
26 Yellow triggered acute gastroenteritis. That is a
27 relatively rare report for food colourings but not entirely
28 unheard of.
29
30 Q. Is it generally accepted that Sunset Yellow does cause
31 allergies?
32 A. Put it this way, while some of the representatives of
33 companies that both manufacture and utilise Sunset Yellow
34 contest that claim, it is a claim which has been accepted
35 by the Committee on Toxicity, by the Scientific Committee
36 for Food and by the Joint Expert Committee on Food
37 Additives, yes.
38
39 The issue is not -- the dispute within the profession is
40 not, does Sunset Yellow cause acute intolerant reactions,
41 but at which frequency does that occur?
42
43 Q. Also, presumably, how important do we treat those allergies
44 as something to be avoided?
45 A. Yes.
46
47 Q. Sometimes I am going to put to you a question that I want a
48 "yes" or "no" answer so it is on the record. In your
49 opinion, Sunset Yellow causes allergies; is that correct?
50 A. In my opinion, the evidence shows that Sunset Yellow
51 does cause some symptoms of acute intolerance which may
52 include allergic reactions but may include reactions not
53 mediated by the immunological system.
54
55 Q. And hyperactivity as well?
56 A. I think there is strong evidence of an anecdotal nature
57 that Sunset Yellow is one of the compounds which does
58 provoke hyperactive reactions, particularly in sensitive
59 children.
60
