Day 266 - 20 Jun 96 - Page 19
1 intersalt revisited', is it?
2 A. The way that the BMJ does papers is they do sort of
3 like a scientific study with the results published, and
4 then they have comments from people on the report.
5
6 Q. I understand that, but you at some stage -- I do not have
7 my screen this morning so I cannot look at it back -- but
8 you said this is a significant study, or words to that
9 effect?
10 A. Yes.
11
12 Q. And all I am asking is which study were you talking of when
13 you said it was a significant study?
14 A. The one, the intersalt findings.
15
16 MR. MORRIS: If you look at--
17
18 MS. STEEL: Intersalt is 1 and 3.
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Please, I must have the witness tell me.
21
22 MS. STEEL: I was going say it is actually 1 and 3 in the
23 references.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I know, but there are two referred to.
26 There is 3 and there is 8. I want to know which was the
27 significant one. Is it the one which says how much the
28 level of mercury is reduced by, or is it the one which
29 associates those drops with a certain percentage lowering
30 of the incidence of heart disease, and Mrs. Brophy has
31 answered that now by saying it is the intersalt one.
32
33 MR. MORRIS: Yes, she referred to 32 countries. If we look in
34 the very first paragraph of the whole document it says: "In
35 1988 the intersalt study."
36
37 MR. MORRIS: I know. All I wanted her to do was tell me which
38 one, and she had done?
39 A. Is that OK?
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
42 A. Right. So going back to the comment and assuming we
43 are all clear about which study we are talking about, the
44 excess dietary salt is a serious public health hazard, the
45 question was whether I agreed with that statement or not.
46 My job would not be necessarily to study all the different
47 scientific, you know, nuances, but my job is to interpret
48 that data and put it across in a way that health
49 professionals understand, and the health professionals will
50 put it across in a way that the public understand, and the
51 paper is backing up the evidence that has been thought for
52 a long time that salt is a serious public health hazard.
53 And, yes, I could definitely agree with that, and when I am
54 giving advice to people I would give them advice on the way
55 to reduce their salt intake.
56
57 Going back to the some of the things that were
58 mentioned before in terms of how people reduce their salt
59 content, it is very difficult because most people eat
60 processed foods these days so therefore just reducing the
