Day 035 - 12 Oct 94 - Page 67


     
     1
     2   Q.   What matters is the health of people?
     3        A.  One would think so.
     4
     5   Q.   Do you agree that one of the ways in which people may
     6        remain healthy, so far as possible, is by being given the
     7        information they need to take decisions about their lives?
     8        A.  Certainly.
     9
    10   Q.   Do you agree that in matters of health that information
    11        can only be provided directly or indirectly by medical men
    12        and scientists, directly or indirectly?
    13        A.  No.
    14
    15   Q.   You do not?  Do you agree that the principal source of
    16        information for what the public learns about its health
    17        must be the efforts of medical men and scientists in
    18        resolving questions of this kind?
    19        A.  Could you repeat that question, please?
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  It is rather different from the
    22        earlier one, which was much more general.
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  What I am asking you is this:  If you want to
    25        know -- if I want to know what is good for my health, I am
    26        not likely to listen to anybody who has not got his
    27        information from a scientist or medical person, am I?
    28        A.  I cannot respond what you might do but, with all due
    29        respect, I would suggest you may not wish to limit your
    30        sources of information simply to medical men and
    31        scientists.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think you may not be really far apart; it
    34        is just that there may be an intermediary between ----?
    35        A.  They can certainly be a good source of information;
    36        sometimes they are not a good source of information.
    37
    38   MR. RAMPTON:  No, of course they are not.  There are some that
    39        are cranky and unreliable.  Sometimes the combined
    40        thinking of medical men and scientists is promulgated to
    41        the public at large by governments, is it not?
    42        A.  Yes.
    43
    44   Q.   We have seen that, and by national bodies, and we have
    45        seen that from America?
    46        A.  Yes.
    47
    48   Q.   We have seen the Surgeon General and we have seen what the
    49        National Academy of Sciences, National Cancer Institute
    50        and so on; that is one means by which the public can 
    51        regulate its habits as to benefit its health, is it not? 
    52        A.  Yes. 
    53
    54   Q.   Assume for the moment that is the character of this
    55        document, that is to say, information conveyed to the
    56        public by a responsible body so that the public can keep
    57        up to the minute on what is good for them and what is bad
    58        for them; will you assume that?
    59        A.  OK.
    60

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