Day 036 - 13 Oct 94 - Page 55


     
     1        evidence -- and I think he said something equivalent to
     2        "smoking causes cancer".  He said that.  Is that -----
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  He quoted it from the sleeve of the
     5        cigarette packet.
     6
     7   MR. RAMPTON:  I got Dr. Barnard to read it out.
     8
     9   MR. MORRIS:  Is that, strictly speaking, a medical fact,
    10        "smoking causes cancer"?
    11        A.  It would perhaps be more accurate to say "smoking may
    12        cause cancer" in that in many individuals it does but in
    13        many others it does not.  But for some individuals smoking
    14        does cause cancer.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is so obvious that when we are talking in
    17        the field we have been concerned with nothing causes
    18        something in everyone, but if you say X causes Y, what you
    19        mean is X causes Y in some people?
    20        A.  Yes.
    21
    22   Q.   That is self-evident, is it not?
    23        A.  Yes, it is.
    24
    25   Q.   It can only mean that?
    26        A.  Yes -- presumably, yes.
    27
    28   Q.   I am not trying to trick you.  If you say smoking causes
    29        cancer, the words in some people are too obvious to bother
    30        to write down?
    31        A.  Yes, although oddly enough, the fact is that smoking
    32        usually does not cause cancer, but it is certainly quite
    33        fair to say smoking may cause cancer in smokers and
    34        perhaps, as a public health educational device, people
    35        have used stronger language.
    36
    37   MS. STEEL:   On the subject of causation, it was -- I am not
    38        quite sure how to put this -- suggested to you, at least,
    39        that no respectable body seriously believed that diet was
    40        a causative factor in certain types of cancer.  I do not
    41        know if you still have document No. 6 from the latest
    42        bundle of documents "Cancer of the Colon and Rectum"?
    43        A.  I do not know if I have.  (Handed).
    44
    45   Q.   It is No. 6.  Turning to page 6 and page 7, about halfway
    46        down the first paragraph under "Causes and Prevention",
    47        there is a sentence which says:  "In most cases the onset
    48        of the disease is probably triggered by complex
    49        interactions of several factors.  Among these are
    50        lifestyle and diet", emphasis on diet, "heredity, sporadic 
    51        polyps, inflammatory bowel diseases, and occupational 
    52        exposure to carcinogens (cancer-causing substances)." 
    53        What do they mean by "onset"?
    54        A.  They mean the beginning -- or speaking here of
    55        colorectal cancer, and they mean the cause of it or the
    56        beginning, the beginning of cancer.
    57
    58   Q.   Right.  It might also be worth -- I do not know how to put
    59        this actually.  The heading "Diet" appears to be a
    60        subheading of "Causes and Prevention"?

Prev Next Index