Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 63
1 to be diet related in the sense we have already defined.
2 The point being made here is we are not talking about
3 cancers that are trivial causes of death.
4
5 Q. We are talking about affecting very large numbers of
6 people?
7 A. Correct.
8
9 Q. If we can leave that and go on to the last reference
10 document which is Science News, March 1994?
11 A. This is a quarterly sheet that is produced by my own
12 organisation the World Cancer Research Fund for health
13 professionals. It goes out to about 10,000 health
14 professionals and opinion formers in the UK. The purpose
15 of it is just to set out in ordinary language what the
16 latest state of play is in the field of diet and cancer.
17
18 The reason this document is relevant is that it simply,
19 hopefully, is an accessible summary of the situation now
20 in Scotland. I have already mentioned earlier today a
21 Scottish report that came out I think in 1990 which is,
22 therefore, in my book. This is the situation in Scotland
23 now. The striking thing about the Scottish report is
24 that, rather like COMA reports when they are endorsed by
25 government, this particular report contains within its own
26 covers an endorsement by the Scottish Secretary State, Ian
27 Laing, who says in 1994: "Just as a good diet helps keep
28 us fit and healthy, so a poor diet can contribute to
29 coronary heart disease, cancer, dental decay and many
30 other illnesses".
31
32 Q. That is on right-hand side, midway down that column in the
33 first article.
34 A. One question here is: Why Scotland and not the UK?
35 Well, happily, one might say there is a fair amount of
36 devolution of responsibility nowadays in the UK. The
37 other reason is that it is generally accepted that the
38 average diet in Scotland is worse, in some respects much
39 worse in certain parts of Scotland, than the average diet
40 outside of Scotland; certainly the average diet outside of
41 Scotland and Northern Ireland. Therefore, the rates of
42 suffering and death, premature death, from diet related
43 diseases is even higher in Scotland than it is elsewhere
44 in the UK.
45
46 MR. MORRIS: Could we take a five-minute break now?
47
48 MR. MORRIS: What we would like to do at this stage, we are not
49 sure if we have any further questions because of some of
50 the confusion over the documents. May it be appropriate
51 to stop the evidence-in-chief now and leave ourselves the
52 option of coming back with three or four more questions
53 when Mr. Cannon comes back?
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think you should try to finish everything
56 which occurs to you now. If Mr. Cannon has to come back
57 later anyway, and if Mr. Rampton chooses not to start his
58 cross-examination this afternoon, then you obviously can
59 ask anything further which occurs to you. It may be that
60 if you have effectively reached the end of your
