Day 034 - 11 Oct 94 - Page 68


     
     1        I understand.  What else?
     2        A.  When researchers have tried to reverse heart disease
     3        in cardiac patients who already have demonstrable
     4        atherosclerotic plaques in their coronaries, there is not
     5        any evidence that you can do it by leaving fish in the
     6        diet.  They have removed all meats, all chicken, all
     7        fish.  Now someone may at some point do a study showing
     8        that, in fact, fish can be included in such a diet and be
     9        demonstrated to allow the reversal of atherosclerotic
    10        plaques, but that has not been shown.
    11
    12   Q.   What is troubling me is this, Dr. Barnard.  This is a book
    13        (and I take it you would agree with this at least) which
    14        is intended to persuade its readers to improve their
    15        health and to reduce the risks of various kinds of
    16        illnesses and disease, is it not?
    17        A.  Yes.
    18
    19   Q.   Then I ask you again, there is a considerable body of
    20        research which postulates that the consumption of the
    21        omega 3s to be found in fish are protective against
    22        cancer, is there not?  That is right, is it not?
    23        A.  There is a body of literature, experimental
    24        literature, showing that to be so.
    25
    26   Q.   I ask you again:  Is that not an argument in favour of
    27        eating fish?
    28        A.  That is an argument in favour of eating fish.
    29
    30   Q.   Can we just look (because I promised you that we would) at
    31        page 10.  I will not read it out I think, page 10 of the
    32        book which is your introductory chapter, as it were,
    33        setting the scene which you have entitled, "Forever
    34        young".  On page 10, above the subheading, "Iron, the
    35        double-edged sword", we see two paragraphs beginning after
    36        the first paragraph on the page with the phrase, "Even
    37        worse are fish oils which actively encourage the
    38        production of free radicals".  My Lord, I invite your
    39        Lordship and the witness just to read that paragraph to
    40        yourselves.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    43
    44   MR. RAMPTON:  I will come back to one particular sentence in it
    45        in a moment.
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    48
    49   MR. RAMPTON:  In the middle of that paragraph, Dr. Barnard, you
    50        write this -- I hope you can find it -- it is before the 
    51        sentence about researchers from the University of Arizona 
    52        and Cornell, you write this:  "They" these are the fishy 
    53        omega 3s "tend to decompose and in the process unleash
    54        dangerous free radicals".  Is that not just a piece of
    55        scaremongering, Dr. Barnard?
    56        A.  No, it is not.
    57
    58   Q.   Dr. Barnard, what are People for the Ethical Treatment of
    59        Animals?
    60        A.  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an

Prev Next Index