Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 27


     
     1        State for Scotland.
     2
     3        So, in the UK we have what might be considered an
     4        interesting situation from the constitutional point of
     5        view, in that Scotland has accepted, officially accepted,
     6        the position on diet and cancer.  The UK, as a whole, has
     7        not yet done so.  However, rather as I was mentioning
     8        before with WHO, when the UK government reckons that an
     9        issue to do with diet and public health is of such public
    10        interest it must take a view, then it will commission the
    11        committee on medical aspects and food policy, the
    12        so-called COMA Committee, to review the evidence and to
    13        produce a report.  That is now in train.
    14
    15        There is now a COMA Committee on diet and cancer which is
    16        now sitting.  But, going back to your original question,
    17        if the question is:  Is the link between diet and cancer
    18        in a way specified, generally accepted within the expert
    19        committee, that is to say, within health professionals and
    20        the scientific research community, the answer is, yes.
    21
    22        If question is, is it accepted by government, the answer
    23        is, yes, in the US, and, yes, generally speaking, in
    24        Europe and Scotland.  It is not yet accepted by the
    25        government in this country.  That is partly what is meant
    26        by saying that the evidence on diet and cancer is not yet
    27        generally so well known as the evidence on diet and
    28        cardiovascular disease.
    29
    30   Q.   But the UK government is part of the European Union.  We
    31        will refer to some of your references when we have gone
    32        through the statement, but the European Union has a
    33        position; is that correct?
    34        A.  Indeed, the UK is a member of the European Union, as
    35        we all know, yes.  It may be germane to mention that the
    36        Europe Against Cancer Initiative, which is EU backed, has
    37        a week every year, and I think for the first time the
    38        Europe Against Cancer Initiative next week is specifically
    39        on the issue of diet and cancer.  So, if the court wished
    40        to know what the European Union position was as
    41        promulgated in the United Kingdom on diet and cancer
    42        formally, it would have to wait until next week.
    43
    44        However, I can confidently say that the position will be
    45        what is stated in the European Code against Cancer Ten
    46        Commandments, which, I believe, have already been read out
    47        in court.
    48
    49   Q.   We will come to them specifically.  It may be useful to
    50        look at that now.  There is a file behind you. 
    51 
    52   MS. STEEL:   Document No. 59. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Find the bundle with document No. 59.
    55
    56   THE WITNESS:  Yes, I have it.
    57
    58   MR. MORRIS:  Would you like to say what document that is?
    59        A.  "Avoiding Cancer, the European Code".  Then it says
    60        underneath:  "Europe against Cancer is the campaign to

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