Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 30


     
     1        The strongest resistance to the worldwide ban on these
     2        compounds comes from, I believe, the former Soviet Union
     3        where they consume very large amounts of fat in their diet
     4        and their storage and stock control methods are rather poor
     5        and where rancidity may be a problem.  I understand that
     6        for thousands of years it has been the practice in Tibet
     7        and Nepal and other adjacent Himalayan countries
     8        specifically to leave their fats and butters to go rancid
     9        because, for reasons that escape me, they seem to like the
    10        flavour.  But there is no evidence in those communities
    11        that the rancidity has posed any health hazard for those
    12        communities.
    13
    14   Q.   Do you want to concentrate on the specific evidence,
    15        strongest and most significant evidence in your report?
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That really is a very general question.  What
    18        are you aiming at?  What do you really want him to do?  Do
    19        you have some point in mind?
    20
    21   MR. MORRIS:  I have not really.  I have eight pages of text
    22        here.  I am trying to get through it in the shortest time
    23        as possible.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  My fear is that if you ask him that kind of
    26        question  -----
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:  It will take longer?
    29
    30   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    31
    32   THE WITNESS:  I will endeavour not to ramble but simply
    33        highlight the fact that I believe the most serious evidence
    34        that leads me to doubt the safety of BHA concerns its
    35        carcinogenicity to laboratory animals.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You say that both in ----?
    38        A.  In several species.
    39
    40   Q.  -- relation to BHA and BHT?
    41        A.  Yes, in several species, at not just relatively high
    42        levels at two per cent in the diet, but even at relatively
    43        low levels.
    44
    45   MR. MORRIS:  Can I ask a question?  Why has it not been banned
    46        in the USA?
    47        A.  That is a question I am myself very interested in.  As
    48        I think I report at the top of page 25, the Food and Drug
    49        Administration have a working party or have commissioned a
    50        working party of a federation of American societies for 
    51        experimental biology.  I first wrote this document in 
    52        I think the autumn of last year, when I wrote that it was 
    53        due to be completed in the spring of this year.  We are now
    54        in the Autumn of 1994 and it is still not yet completed.
    55        It is not entirely unusual for these things to take longer
    56        than initially projected.
    57
    58        So, we are awaiting the outcome of that.  Doubtless, the
    59        FDA will issue a judgment on BHA once that study is
    60        available.  What they will typically do is they will issue

Prev Next Index