Day 294 - 05 Nov 96 - Page 34


     
     1        increasingly recognised as a serious health and
     2        psychological problem that many children are suffering
     3        from.
     4
     5        Dr. Millstone identified nine additives which carried a
     6        risk that were used by McDonald's:  sunset yellow
     7        colouring, amaranth colouring, sodium nitrate and potassium
     8        nitrate preservatives, and colour fixatives, BHA and BHT
     9        antioxidants, carrageenan, stabiliser and thickening
    10        agents, monosodium glutamate flavour enhancer, and
    11        potassium bromate flour improver.  As we have heard,
    12        potassium bromate was banned in 1989 as a dangerous
    13        carcinogen, and was previously widely used in bread
    14        products, including McDonald's buns.
    15
    16        No doubt potassium bromate was quite confidently argued to
    17        be safe, up to it being banned, on the grounds that the
    18        Committee on Toxicology would not recommend its usage
    19        unless it was sure that it was safe -- which is a ludicrous
    20        argument.  It just means that it had not been proved to be
    21        unsafe to such an extent where they could not allow it any
    22        longer.  That is what happened when they withdrew it, when
    23        it was banned in 1989.  It had been proven to be a
    24        carcinogenic risk.
    25
    26        Obviously, Mr. Walker gave evidence for McDonald's.  There
    27        will be references to his evidence tomorrow, which I will
    28        not go through in any kind of detail whatsoever, but they
    29        will be there to be checked out.
    30
    31        Dr. Eric Millstone dealt with the risks in detail and in
    32        depth, and was obviously challenged up hill and down dale.
    33        He had, we believe, quite clearly demonstrated, despite all
    34        the challenges, the risks; and that is what we are talking
    35        about, we are talking about risks of these additives being
    36        used in foods.
    37
    38        Mr. Walker accepted some of the criticisms that
    39        Dr. Millstone was making.  He said, "If the object of the
    40        exercise was the protection of public health rather than
    41        helping companies negotiate their way through regulatory
    42        hurdles", then the approach which he was advocating would
    43        be adopted, which is to give the benefit of the doubt to
    44        the consumer, not to the compound or the industry.
    45
    46        There was also an issue of the lack of proper ingredient
    47        listing on the actual food product itself.  Because of the
    48        nature of McDonald's food products, there is no reason why
    49        they should not have their ingredients listed on them, so
    50        that people, for example, who have concerns about the
    51        reactions in their child, who may be allergic to certain
    52        things, especially hyperactivity concerns, would be able to
    53        then know which products to avoid.
    54
    55        Finally, on the subject of toxicology, not strictly an
    56        additive, Professor Walker agreed that styrene can migrate
    57        from polystyrene packaging into food, especially fatty food
    58        such as McDonald's sell, and that the International Agency
    59        for the Research on Cancer had classified styrene as
    60        possibly carcinogenic to humans; and, also, styrene could

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