Day 023 - 13 Sep 94 - Page 30
1 A. Yes, indeed, yes.
2
3 Q. Then it says this: "The most important causal factor is
4 cigarette smoking"?
5 A. Yes.
6
7 Q. Is that a statement with which you would have agreed in
8 1990?
9 A. Certainly.
10
11 Q. Did you notice any similar statement in the parts relating
12 to colorectal cancer or breast cancer?
13 A. No, I did not.
14
15 Q. You can put that one away. That is the World Health
16 Organisation. I would like to move on to the British
17 contribution to the European Community's advice to the
18 public in about the same time, 1989, which is this
19 document "Can you avoid cancer? A guide to reducing your
20 risks", which is tab 58 in volume II of the Defendants'
21 list of document bundles. Do you have that?
22 A. Yes, I have.
23
24 Q. Can you turn to page 18? Do you have that under "Food",
25 yes?
26 A. Yes.
27
28 Q. Under: "Obesity. There is some evidence that being
29 grossly overweight (obese) increases the risk of some
30 forms cancers, for example, cancer of the womb" and so
31 on. As a statement of medical opinion as at that date,
32 1989, would you have agreed with it or not?
33 A. I would have agreed with that.
34
35 Q. Under "What you Eat", we find this: "Different
36 nationalities and communities get different forms of
37 cancer. This fact has led researchers to ask if these
38 differences may have anything to do with differences in
39 what people eat. Very few foods are known to cause
40 cancer". Then we come on to bracken shoots which,
41 I gather, you tell us is something in the same category as
42 mouldy bread in China?
43 A. That is right.
44
45 Q. Then the last paragraph under that heading: "In Britain,
46 there is mounting evidence that our high fat, low fibre
47 diet may play a part in causing some common cancers". As
48 at 1989, would you have agreed or disagreed with that
49 statement as a medical expert?
50 A. I would have agreed with that.
51
52 Q. Then under: "Fats. Cancer of the breast and cancer of the
53 bowel are much more common in Western nations than in
54 other countries. Many researchers suspect a link between
55 these cancers and the food people eat". Then it goes on
56 to say something about Western diet and the diets of
57 people not in the Western world. Again, as a statement of
58 the state of medical opinion as at that date, is that, in
59 your view, correct or not?
60 A. That was what people believed to be the case in 1989.
