Day 032 - 06 Oct 94 - Page 31
1 large quantities of fastfood; and the argument being
2 presented there is that promotional literature from
3 manufacturers may not be the most useful means, but that
4 there was some interest, and, I would now suggest, greater
5 interest, in having more information, more transparency
6 about the fastfood they are eating. That was the argument
7 at the end of that discussion there, and, indeed, was the
8 prompt, if you wish, for quite a lot of action taking
9 place in that period, including the writing of my book and
10 various other activities that concerned children's diets
11 -- the media that resulted from the Diet of British
12 Schoolchildren publication, for example.
13
14 Q. So what are your conclusions from the results of that
15 survey overall?
16 A. That there are, indeed, pockets of consumers who are
17 consuming quite large quantities of fastfood and, given
18 the nature of the sorts of fastfoods they appear to be
19 eating, there may well be concerns for their health as a
20 result.
21
22 Q. When you say "pockets", are they substantial pockets?
23 A. Well, as you know, we targeted a particular low income
24 area. We selected only day time and afternoon
25 respondents, so it would be foolish of us to generalise
26 beyond what we had actually sampled, except to say that
27 other data of the sort we discussed earlier does indicate
28 that the phenomena of eating foods of this type is fairly
29 widespread. We are showing that in these areas, within
30 this sample range, for a significant proportion, about a
31 third of those sampled it was a very significant part of
32 their diet, the consumption of fastfood was a very
33 important part of their diet.
34
35 Q. If we can move on, maybe, from that survey. We served
36 this second survey from Fiona Carruthers, but, to be
37 honest, I have forgotten about it. I am not sure if we
38 actually intend to call Miss Carruthers. She has made a
39 statement for us, has she not?
40
41 MS. STEEL: Yes.
42
43 MR. RAMPTON: The position was, may I remind your Lordship,
44 that I consented to the Defendants impressing her
45 statement with a Civil Evidence Act notice orally. I said
46 that if I wanted her called I would give a counter
47 notice. I have not done so and, therefore, as matters
48 presently stand, she does not have to be called as a
49 witness; it can be read.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: When you have finished Dr. Lobstein or when
52 he finishes in the witness box remind me of Miss
53 Carruthers so I can reread her statement then.
54
55 MR. MORRIS: From memory -- to be honest I have not looked at
56 it for six months -- I believe it is much the same kind of
57 approach as the others.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: In case I do not remember to read it this
60 evening, I want you to remind me when we get to the end of
