Day 014 - 20 Jul 94 - Page 58


     
     1
              What, for example, Professor Walker has done in his study
     2        which is about 30 or 40 pages long -- not his report; it
              is his paper which was done for the World Health
     3        Organisation on nitrates and nitrites -- is that he has
              reviewed the whole of the existing body of learning so far
     4        as it is relevant.
 
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I understand that, but in two instances
              which I remember he has referred to a specific study to
     6        support.  We had the vegetarian school girls and we had
              the Finns who eat a lot of meat and a lot of green stuff
     7        as well.  If he refers to those specifically and relied
              upon them, unless the defendants say (which they may do, I
     8        do not know):  "We have checked with our expert and we
              accept that there was an article which said something to
     9        that effect", and they are content to leave it at that,
              they are entitled to see the whole article, are they not?
    10
         MR. RAMPTON:  What I am not saying is, because I have not
    11        checked, that Dr. Arnott makes in his reports specific
              reference to that study.  What I am saying is that one of
    12        the papers upon which he does rely -- this is how the
              layers build up -- does make reference to that study.
    13
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  I may be being pedantic but what I am
    14        fixed on at the moment is that this witness has
              specifically referred to two articles.  I take your point
    15        about the grey book, that that is a distillation of an
              awful lot of learning, and the way you are putting it is,
    16        here we have a responsible committee which has come up
              with these conclusions and Professor Wheelock, with all
    17        his expertise, happens to agree with them.  That is
              free-standing.  But when we come to vegetarian school
    18        girls and healthy Finns, are we not entitled to see those?
 
    19   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, put it this way:  If an expert comes to
              court and says:  "I particularly rely on this, that or the
    20        other paper", then he must is produce it.  So far as I am
              aware, that is what Dr. Arnott has done.  If, however, to
    21        take this paper as an example, the one I mentioned which
              is called Environmental Dietary Factors in Colorectal
    22        Cancer" which is dated 1991, and it is by some of the same
              authors that wrote the earlier report, that report or that
    23        paper alone has 26 references.  If those 26 references are
              to be incorporated by implication  -----
    24
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  I do not think I am talking about
    25        that.  If can I give an example:  I do not suppose it
              would be so, but suppose there is an article on vegetarian 
    26        school girls that comes to the conclusion which Professor 
              Wheelock has in mind, then the other side is normally 
    27        entitled to have the reference and, out of convenience, a
              copy is provided as well, so that they can find that it
    28        was not just three young ladies in Worksop who wrote an
              awful lot of letters and you cannot draw any conclusion,
    29        safe conclusion, at all.
 
    30        As you probably know, most of my personal experience in
              this sort of area is in relation to medical matters.  Time

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