Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 54
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2 MS. STEEL: Orange volume IV.
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4 MR. RAMPTON: Volume IV, tab 26.
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6 MR. MORRIS: Has everyone got the sections from the World
7 Health Organisation Report that have been disclosed
8 before?
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10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is the one Mr. Rampton has just given
11 us the reference for. I am turning to page 66. Is it
12 paragraph 3.3.9?
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14 THE WITNESS: That is right, my Lord, yes.
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16 MR. MORRIS: Is there anything on page 66 and following that
17 you want to draw the court's attention to?
18 A. Yes, because I think the statement on page 66 is
19 admirable as a statement of the state of scientific
20 opinion, partly for the reason I have given and partly
21 referring back to some of the things I said this morning.
22 What this paragraph says is: "A review of the evidence
23 indicates that a high intake total fat - and in some
24 case-studies also saturated fat - is associated with an
25 increased risk of cancers of the colon, prostate, and
26 breast. The evidence is strongest for cancer of the colon
27 and weakest for breast cancer. The epidemiological
28 evidence is not totally consistent, but is generally
29 supported by laboratory data from studies in animals."
30 Then it goes on to make other points.
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32 What that is saying, hence the analogy or parallel with
33 the term proof as used in a court of law is that, indeed,
34 there is evidence on the other side, but that evidence has
35 not convinced the scientists whose job in this case is not
36 just to review the scientific literature, but whose is
37 judicial. They are judging the evidence and drawing
38 conclusions on it. I do not know if the court has the
39 facing page 67, but again you can see there a little
40 graphic system of indicating the strength of the causal
41 association. Then again later on in the report, page 157,
42 "Conclusions", do you have that?
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44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, we have been through that already.
45 That was put to Dr. Arnott and Professor Keen in
46 cross-examination.
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48 MR. MORRIS: Would you like to comment on the conclusions? I
49 will just read out the first sentence: "Dietary factors
50 are now to known influence the development of a wide range
51 of chronic diseases, eg. coronary heart disease, various
52 cancers, hypertension and cerebral vascular disease and
53 diabetes." It goes on to talk about diet below. There
54 is a sentence in the middle: "This change in diet that
55 has happened in developing countries can now be linked to
56 the increasing incidence of chronic diseases and of
57 premature death".
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59 What is your point you want to make about this?
60 A. What it says is: "This change of diet which has
