Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 23
1 interested if they knew that these risks were there. But
2 it is quite well known certainly in the United States, and
3 in our medical libraries there are numerous reports (at
4 least one of which I have cited here) and in that report
5 by Geerhertz in 1991 additional studies are also cited.
6
7 I might also briefly mention that at the John Hopkins
8 University in Baltimore, Maryland, which is a well-known
9 medical centre and the site of a great deal of cancer
10 research, researchers are investigating factors that help
11 to eliminate carcinogens from the body. Certain
12 vegetables seem to have constituents that can do that.
13
14 Without getting overly detailed, when researchers have
15 wanted to present carcinogens or to look at the body's
16 capacity to eliminate carcinogens, one of the standard
17 carcinogens that is sometimes used is that which is
18 presented in cooked meat. So, it is something that is
19 quite well known, quite well accepted and is believed to
20 be one of many mechanisms by which a diet that is high in
21 fat, but particularly animal fat and meats, may encourage
22 the development of cancer of the colon.
23
24 Q. Just very briefly, you refer on that page to pancreatic
25 cancer has been linked to consumption of meat, National
26 Research Council 1982. We can come to that reference if
27 necessary later, but just explain that a little bit.
28 A. That was a reference to international associations
29 where a high consumption of meat is simply associated with
30 a high incidence of pancreatic cancer.
31
32 MR. MORRIS: Moving on -----
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If we are going to move on, I would like to
35 ask a question about page 8 of your first statement,
36 Dr. Barnard. You said in the second paragraph: "When the
37 past diets of cancer patients are studied, it is clear
38 that meat-based diets are linked to colon cancer". Can
39 I pose the same kind of question to you: How strong is
40 the link or association there, cause and effect, even if
41 the exact mechanism is not known or not as strong as that?
42 A. That alone -- those would be case-control studies,
43 they are one line of evidence that contributes to what
44 ultimately may establish cause and effect, but those alone
45 would not.
46
47 Q. Yes. I may well be taking the sentence out of context
48 because you have related it to a particular paper or line
49 of enquiry. But bearing in mind all the lines of enquiry
50 and all the papers you have read about, what do you mean
51 by meat-based diets being linked to colon cancer? I know
52 I am taking the sentence out of context.
53 A. Yes.
54
55 Q. But if we start from an averment which, I understand, you
56 are prepared to make without relating it to a specific
57 paper which has followed a particular line of enquiry,
58 "Meat-based diets are linked to colon cancer or diets
59 high in fat and low in fibre are linked to colon cancer",
60 what does "linked" mean there?
