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.

Prev Next Index