Day 107 - 24 Mar 95 - Page 46
1 A. If you identify it, sir, I will get it.
2
3 Q. I do not know what it is called, Mr. North, mine is called
4 "North Documents". It should have a white label with your
5 name on it?
6 A. You want me to refer to The Scientist -----
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Wait until Mr. Rampton refers you to it
9 specifically.
10
11 MR. RAMPTON: My numbers are tabbed, it is tab 6, please,
12 Mr. North. This may be the other Richard North, I do not
13 know?
14 A. No, it is me, sir.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He calls himself "Richard D. North"?
17 A. Only recently, after we discussed it and the confusion
18 which arose.
19
20 MR. RAMPTON: You threatened to sue him or something, did you?
21 A. Not exactly, no!
22
23 Q. Will you turn to the second sheet of this article, please?
24 It is an article by you published in the New Scientist on
25 29th July 1976.
26 A. Yes.
27
28 Q. Of course, please make all due allowance for the passage of
29 time and the development of science in the intervening
30 period which is nearly 20 years. Please look at the second
31 column on page 232 -- the page number will you find in the
32 top left-hand corner -- and at the bottom of the second
33 complete paragraph in that right-hand column?
34 A. Yes.
35
36 Q. And at the penultimate sentence and the last sentence, the
37 last two sentences where you have written: "Moreover,
38 these unsound birds are rarely, if ever, harmful to human
39 health". Here we are talking about salmonellosis?
40 A. Yes.
41
42 Q. "Salmonellosis is the only poultry disease known to be
43 harmful to man and the number of human cases attributable
44 to infection via poultry is very small". Do you see those
45 words?
46 A. Yes, indeed.
47
48 Q. Do you wish to qualify them in the light of your current
49 knowledge?
50 A. Yes, I do.
51
52 Q. In what way?
53 A. Well, in 1976, as I recall, the annual reported
54 salmonella was about 7,000 a year. It is now 30,000 plus.
55 When I qualified -- this was not that long after I had
56 qualified -- I qualified with an understanding of four
57 basic types of food poisoning. At last count, I think we
58 had 27 different types of food poisoning. E.coli,
59 obviously, had not been heard of then, nor had
60 campylobacter. Campylobacter was only formally identified
