Day 254 - 22 May 96 - Page 53


     
     1        development from adenoma to carcinoma, or are you drawing
     2        any other significance from that?
     3        A.  No, I am not.
     4
     5   MS. STEEL:   OK.  The third paragraph -- we have probably been
     6        through this-- but where you say:
     7
     8        "At the present time, therefore, there is no clear advice
     9        which can be given to the population in the hope of
    10        reducing the incidence of colorectal cancer except perhaps
    11        to ensure a good intake of fruit and vegetables which may
    12        be protective."
    13
    14        Again, that is the current state of belief of the medical
    15        scientific community?
    16        A.  I would say there is a general body of feeling that
    17        that is the best advice that we can give to patients.  The
    18        apparent protective role of fruit and vegetables seems to
    19        be strongest in terms of the research which has been
    20        carried out.
    21
    22   Q.   By not just to patients because the statement in your
    23        statement there is about the population?
    24        A.  No.  I would accept it is the population as a whole.
    25
    26   Q.   Right.  In the final paragraph, you talk about, "the
    27        extremely strong correlation with dietary fats with the
    28        exceptions of the populations of Greece and Spain"?
    29        A.  These are of course population studies.
    30
    31   Q.   Yes.
    32        A.  Which we talked about this morning in fact.
    33
    34   Q.   Yes, I think we dealt with that this morning.
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL: In the investigations which have concentrated
    37        on Greece and Spain, have they concentrated on physical
    38        activity there as well?
    39        A.  No, I do not think they have actually, my Lord.
    40
    41   Q.   One's own experience would leave one to think, maybe quite
    42        wrongly, that a greater proportion of the population of
    43        those countries are more active.  Apart from anything else,
    44        a lot do not live in towns doing sedentary work or office
    45        work, but I mean that may be completely misleading tunnel
    46        vision of the aspects one has seen oneself.  You do not
    47        know?
    48        A.  I do not know of anything.  One would therefore need to
    49        look at whether people in Athens had a higher incidence of
    50        breast and bowel cancer than, say, people living ---- 
    51 
    52   Q.   Out in the country? 
    53        A.  Yes.
    54
    55   Q.   Obviously in this case the last thing I can do is draw any
    56        conclusions from one's own experience rather than from what
    57        is said in the witness box, but you do not know of any?
    58        A.  I do not know of any, my Lord.
    59
    60   MR. RAMPTON:  Your Lordship anecdotal observations do get

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