Day 107 - 24 Mar 95 - Page 78
1 understand you to say; is that right?
2 A. Well, it does specifically refer to salmonella.
3
4 Q. I know, I am not disagreeing with you. I had not read it
5 like that myself but, on reflection, I believe you are
6 probably right. What I ask you is this: Why then, given
7 that both the court and the opposite party need notice of
8 what criticisms you may have, does this statement contain
9 nothing of the risks which you have suggested maybe
10 involved in the sale of beef burgers?
11 A. I have to apologise to the court and to you, that
12 work-load has really prevented me from exploring issues and
13 focusing my mind on what is basically a charitable input
14 from myself, having to make time to do this without payment
15 and without the ability to devote as much time as it
16 deserves.
17
18 Q. Did you make any notes at the time, Mr. North?
19 A. I carried my notebook around and made a few very brief
20 notes. It was not in the nature of a detailed inspection;
21 it could not be under the circumstances. I would not have
22 been allowed to do a full inspection in my terms, of what
23 I would assess to be my terms.
24
25 Q. Finally this, Mr. North, you will recall -- you need not
26 look at it now unless you want to -- in your first
27 statement, effectively, you said that there was no evidence
28 to be found of any pesticide, hormonal or antibiotic
29 residues in meat consumed by humans, you remember you said
30 that? That was in, I think, July 1993, was it not?
31 A. That is right.
32
33 Q. You have told us in this court that you have since then, as
34 it were, revised that statement?
35 A. Yes, I have.
36
37 Q. I will not say changed your mind; I say revised the
38 statement. When -- this is all I am going to ask about it
39 at the moment -- did you first come to revise that opinion?
40 A. I think it is fair to say quite recently. I tend to
41 try to avoid jumping to conclusions. What I used there
42 was, I hope, careful wording in saying no evidence for but
43 also no evidence again -----
44
45 Q. I am not arguing with you about the wording of your
46 statement, please.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You will probably come back to that on the
49 next occasion.
50
51 MR. RAMPTON: I may well do, I may not do. I just want to know
52 when it was, as it were, you saw the light on this road to
53 Damascus?
54 A. I think not more than a couple of weeks ago when I saw
55 -- you tend to have half formed views and you work on a
56 subject trying to avoid forming views. I saw a report
57 couple weeks ago on carrots where I discovered that the
58 Ministry itself was admitting that its procedures were
59 faulty, and it suddenly revised its periods -- its
60 procedures and found enormous hitherto unsuspected
