Day 269 - 25 Jun 96 - Page 91
1 which have suggested that consumption of fruit and
2 vegetables diminishes the risk of cancer of the stomach"?
3 A. Yes.
4
5 Q. He goes on about various things, the weakest is with regard
6 to cancer of the breast; the fat is the causation of cancer
7 and the breast and you said -- I just wanted to clarify
8 what you said. You said that something to the effect that
9 he was talking about prospective studies. Do you remember
10 what you said?
11 A. Have we got what it was that he said?
12
13 Q. If he is talking about prospective studies I would accept
14 that?
15 A. Yes, if he is talking about prospective studies.
16
17 Q. Is that the basis on which you broadly agree with what he
18 said, or was it some other basis?
19 A. Yes. I mean, I think the prospective studies are not
20 in the cancer terms as conclusive as the cardiovascular
21 studies, but the prospective studies, as I think I
22 explained in my original statement, have a serious problem
23 with regard to their implications; what they mean in terms
24 of time spans and which cancer is induced and so on.
25
26 Q. Right. I have nearly finished here I think. You said that
27 you talked about the examples of Unilever and others having
28 some affect on health risks?
29 A. Yes.
30
31 Q. And you said that you were pleased with the improvements in
32 the heart disease rates?
33 A. Yes.
34
35 Q. And you said that they could have been better. In the
36 light of falling heart disease rates, how do you assess
37 McDonald's contribution from its sale of its food in terms
38 of a positive or negative contribution to the improving
39 heart disease rate?
40 A. Well, I think the point I was trying to make was to
41 give your Lordship examples of the way in which industry
42 has acted responsibly in response to the evidence as early
43 as the 1960's and Unilever is one of the world's largest
44 companies and it is really has the capacity to spend large
45 sums of money, either in extolling the virtue of its Stork,
46 which you cannot tell the difference between Stork and
47 butter. Or moving, changing its products and because it
48 invested so much money, rather in the publicity but more in
49 the actual science, the Board was convinced that they had
50 to change their product lines and I think that that they
51 exerted a leadership which was followed by many other
52 industries in the food industry. I think it would be fair
53 to say that that almost certainly has made a major
54 contribution to the reduction in mortality, despite the
55 fact that the total fat intake has remained somewhat
56 similar over the period of time in question where the fall
57 has been taking place, there has been a change in the ratio
58 which is really quite important and Michael Oliver in his
59 Scotland versus Sweden study emphasised. The ratio between
60 saturated fats and polyunsaturated rates has changed, I
