Day 038 - 19 Oct 94 - Page 41
1 administration also does not know whether the subject is
2 being challenged with a test compound or not. Typically,
3 the process is that a third person codes the samples, the
4 second person administers them to the subject and only
5 after the effects have been stated and recorded is the code
6 then broken. Then it becomes possible to see whether or
7 not there is evidence that the compound had an effect
8 without the person receiving it being aware of what they
9 had received.
10
11 Q. As I understood it -- I might have got it wrong --
12 Professor Walker was saying that that kind of test would be
13 one which would be very useful in identifying intolerance
14 and allergies but it was almost never done?
15 A. I agree that evidence from double-blind challenge
16 studies is amongst the most reliable kind of evidence we
17 can obtain. It is also true that there is very little
18 evidence of that nature, though slightly more than
19 Professor Walker is prepared to acknowledge.
20
21 My understanding, however, from professional clinicians
22 working in this field, is they have extraordinary
23 difficulty in obtaining support for studies of that
24 nature. It is not that they do not wish to do it, but that
25 it is only very, very rarely that they are able to obtain
26 the funding to conduct such studies.
27
28 There is another aspect to it which is it is sometimes
29 difficult to persuade the individuals involved to
30 participate. I have myself been involved in attempting to
31 organise double-blind challenge studies with additive. The
32 people who have reported to me that they suspect they have
33 reacted adversely have said that the effects are so
34 unpleasant they would not be prepared to submit to a
35 challenge. But that is not always the case, nor is it
36 always the case that funding is not forthcoming.
37
38 There have been a few studies, one of the best
39 conducted -----
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is it not the best thing to do, when we come
42 to any of the particular compounds in this case where you
43 think there has been a valid study which has demonstrated
44 any of the adverse reactions which are set out, or any
45 other ones, you tell us about it, Dr. Millstone.
46 A. I am happy to do that, though I am going to have to
47 check my files when I get home tonight and bring some of
48 that information back tomorrow.
49
50 MR. MORRIS: All I am saying is, if there are no double-blind
51 studies and animal testing does not show up allergies,
52 would it be fair to say that the anecdotal evidence is,
53 therefore, the strongest body of evidence that exists at
54 the moment?
55 A. I think that is substantially correct. I think there
56 are few fragments of double-blind challenge studies, but
57 the vast majority of the evidence is anecdotal, but that
58 the term "anecdotal" is often used to cover a wide variety
59 of things. I mean, it can cover merely at the weakest the
60 casual guessing or ungrounded suspicion, but it can extend
