Day 036 - 13 Oct 94 - Page 55
1 evidence -- and I think he said something equivalent to
2 "smoking causes cancer". He said that. Is that -----
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He quoted it from the sleeve of the
5 cigarette packet.
6
7 MR. RAMPTON: I got Dr. Barnard to read it out.
8
9 MR. MORRIS: Is that, strictly speaking, a medical fact,
10 "smoking causes cancer"?
11 A. It would perhaps be more accurate to say "smoking may
12 cause cancer" in that in many individuals it does but in
13 many others it does not. But for some individuals smoking
14 does cause cancer.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is so obvious that when we are talking in
17 the field we have been concerned with nothing causes
18 something in everyone, but if you say X causes Y, what you
19 mean is X causes Y in some people?
20 A. Yes.
21
22 Q. That is self-evident, is it not?
23 A. Yes, it is.
24
25 Q. It can only mean that?
26 A. Yes -- presumably, yes.
27
28 Q. I am not trying to trick you. If you say smoking causes
29 cancer, the words in some people are too obvious to bother
30 to write down?
31 A. Yes, although oddly enough, the fact is that smoking
32 usually does not cause cancer, but it is certainly quite
33 fair to say smoking may cause cancer in smokers and
34 perhaps, as a public health educational device, people
35 have used stronger language.
36
37 MS. STEEL: On the subject of causation, it was -- I am not
38 quite sure how to put this -- suggested to you, at least,
39 that no respectable body seriously believed that diet was
40 a causative factor in certain types of cancer. I do not
41 know if you still have document No. 6 from the latest
42 bundle of documents "Cancer of the Colon and Rectum"?
43 A. I do not know if I have. (Handed).
44
45 Q. It is No. 6. Turning to page 6 and page 7, about halfway
46 down the first paragraph under "Causes and Prevention",
47 there is a sentence which says: "In most cases the onset
48 of the disease is probably triggered by complex
49 interactions of several factors. Among these are
50 lifestyle and diet", emphasis on diet, "heredity, sporadic
51 polyps, inflammatory bowel diseases, and occupational
52 exposure to carcinogens (cancer-causing substances)."
53 What do they mean by "onset"?
54 A. They mean the beginning -- or speaking here of
55 colorectal cancer, and they mean the cause of it or the
56 beginning, the beginning of cancer.
57
58 Q. Right. It might also be worth -- I do not know how to put
59 this actually. The heading "Diet" appears to be a
60 subheading of "Causes and Prevention"?
