Day 023 - 13 Sep 94 - Page 21


     
     1        it.
     2
     3   Q.   No.  What we are talking about is whether it is reasonable
     4        to say or why -- when we brought this up yesterday we
     5        talked about what you meant by "general acceptance"?
     6        A.  Yes.
     7
     8   Q.   You said, I believe, he was saying it was suggested, and
     9        Mr. Justice Bell said:  "Well, he is putting his cards on
    10        the table and saying it is generally accepted".  We have
    11        heard your position.  Your position is that the field is
    12        open, it is murky, it is whatever.  Would you say the
    13        position in 1990 it was generally accepted?
    14        A.  I would think there has been -----
    15
    16   Q.   Generally?
    17        A.  I think I would not actually put it quite as strongly
    18        as that, but it was generally believed that diet was
    19        likely to play a part in the development of some of these
    20        cancers.
    21
    22   Q.   Presumably, when the World Health Organisation says:
    23        "Dietary factors are now known to influence development",
    24        they do not mean that the majority people in the world
    25        know it, they mean medical and scientific bodies?
    26        A.  Well, I actually do not know what they mean by that
    27        particular statement.
    28
    29   Q.   What I mean is when Vernon Wheelock says "generally
    30        accepted" and when the World Health Organisation says
    31         "dietary factors are now known", they presumably mean
    32        within the respective field -----
    33
    34   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I have been sitting patiently.  I now
    35        make formal objection to this cross-examination because
    36        once again it is based on a selective reading of a
    37        document which has just been given to the witness.  I have
    38        had a chance now while this has been going on to look at
    39        what the World Health Organisation actually thought was
    40        the relationship between cancer and diet, and you find it
    41        on page 62 onwards.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, no doubt you will deal with that in
    44        re-examination.
    45
    46   MR. RAMPTON:  I could do but it is such a waste of time.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you want to refer me to the World Health
    49        Organisation publication which in a sense stands in its
    50        own right as to what any state of general belief was in 
    51        1989 or 1990, you can do that.  When you call witnesses or 
    52        a witness on this, you can refer them to the World Health 
    53        Organisation publication and ask them whether you think
    54        that reflects a general view in the profession or among
    55        ordinary people or any way you want.
    56
    57        I do not propose to stop you because it is difficult for
    58        me, especially when you are acting in person, to know
    59        whether you have something in mind which I have not
    60        twigged, if I can put it that way.

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