Day 036 - 13 Oct 94 - Page 41
1 which clearly causes cancer, some individuals will be
2 protected by various factors. That is certainly true in
3 cigarette smoking where most smokers do not develop
4 cancer. There may be other factors that are protective or
5 may be factors that are protective against dietary factors
6 that would otherwise increase the risk of cancer.
7
8 The fact that something -- if something is identified that
9 indeed does cause cancer that does not mean that it will
10 do so in every individual, and it may be more appropriate
11 to say that for any given individual it may cause cancer,
12 just as cigarettes may or may not cause cancer in a
13 smoker.
14
15 Q. When all is said and done, do you agree with the statement
16 "in reality, animal models are woefully inadequate to
17 meet the challenge of offering definitive answers to a
18 complicated area of research as in human nutrition and
19 cancer aetiology"?
20 A. Let me take a minute to read it a second time. Can
21 you point me out to?
22
23 Q. If you go up about ten lines from the very bottom of the
24 Conclusion?
25 A. I see.
26
27 Q. It starts in the middle of a line.
28 A. Yes, I would agree with that statement, because animal
29 models or the use animals in experimentation cannot
30 provide definitive answers with the emphasis on
31 definitive. Yes, I would agree with his statements.
32
33 MS. STEEL: Can I just ask what the purpose of the last 20
34 minutes was? I was not aware that the Plaintiffs were
35 asserting that all McDonald's customers had children, so
36 I do not really see that it has much relevance.
37
38 MR. RAMPTON: I am sorry Ms. Steel does not like it, my Lord,
39 but I am afraid that I see that it is very central to this
40 case.
41
42 MS. STEEL: I just think it seems like a waste of time.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am sorry. I cannot accept that. One of
45 the issues maybe whether it is or was at any time agreed
46 medical fact that certain things were so, or whether the
47 most one can say is that some things have been promoted,
48 have evidence query strong, query not in support of them,
49 but that there is remaining extensive debate.
50
51 MS. STEEL: I thought they were debating whether it applied to
52 rats that had had children.
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, you can argue it in due course. One has
55 to say that we have had an awful lot of evidence in this
56 area of nutrition which may or may not at the end of the
57 day turn out to be relevant to what the issues are. But
58 since our system of conducting these cases is not, for
59 instance, to decide what the meaning of a statement which
60 has been alleged to be defamatory is until the end of the
