Day 266 - 20 Jun 96 - Page 42
1 Q. We cannot go through it all, but I take it you -- I am not
2 suggesting you should, but I take it you do read these
3 various papers about the relationship between diet and
4 disease as they come out?
5 A. Where significant papers come out. It is my job to
6 promote what the consensus of opinion by Health Education
7 Authority, people working in the field, as to what would
8 improve the health of people in Salford, which is where I
9 work, in terms of reducing cancer. We do not have a post
10 in our department specifically related to cancer. It comes
11 into other fields.
12
13 When I am preparing a report and looking at reducing fat in
14 the diet, what would the outcomes be, because we are all
15 into outcomes these days. The outcomes would be, you know,
16 looking at reduction of coronary heart disease in the
17 Salford area and you might have a secondary bit saying,
18 "You might also reduce cancers as well". It would be, if
19 you like, a secondary piece of benefit that you get from
20 reducing fat, that you also decrease the cancers and the
21 coronary heart disease.
22
23 Q. So, you will be well aware that the evidence is
24 conflicting?
25 A. I do not think the evidence is conflicting. All my
26 training, everybody I come across, you know, people who are
27 much greater than me, if you like, in terms of -- I am what
28 you call a front line person working in the NHS, giving the
29 advice. There are people who spend their time looking at
30 the papers and studying them, and as I am aware from
31 talking to those people -- and I do talk to these people at
32 conferences and such like -- there is no disagreement that
33 reducing fat will prevent certain cancers. Nobody is
34 saying all cancers, as the government report said that you
35 alluded to before, the paragraph was talking about cancers
36 in general.
37
38 Yes, it is true that there is not a consensus about cancers
39 in general, but specific cancers, the diet related cancers,
40 the colon cancer, the breast cancer and the others, are
41 thought to be more diet related. So, you know, that is
42 without a doubt the case of anybody working in the field.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I want to ask a question before we go on. Do
45 you see the sentence -- I am not suggesting you should
46 agree with this or that you should disagree; I just want to
47 know what your view is, Mrs. Brophy. Do you understand?
48 A. Yes.
49
50 Q. There is a reference to table 11. There we are, but it
51 goes on to say: "The evidence cannot be considered
52 sufficiently strong to be termed 'causal'", which I
53 understand from reading the paragraph to mean the evidence
54 cannot be considered sufficiently strong to term a high
55 intake of fat causal of a number of cancers.
56
57 Now, supposing I have read it properly, do you agree with
58 that or not, yourself?
59 A. You are referring to the sentence: "The evidence
60 cannot been considered sufficiently strong to be termed
