Day 017 - 25 Jul 94 - Page 08
1 cancers.
2 The evidence from this comes from where the cancers arise
and they most predominantly arise where the main airway,
3 which goes down to the lungs which is called the trachea,
there are two main passageways going to each lung, and at
4 that particular point there is the change in the flow of
air around the bend. If you know from watching dust and
5 grit carried along by a river, when you get a bend the
grit and dust tends to be deposited. In the same way, it
6 is believed that as the air bends round the tar is
deposited at this particular point. There is lots of bits
7 of evidence which fit in with the causation of lung cancer
and cigarettes.
8
Q. Can I take it a step further then: At the urging of the
9 government, the tobacco industry now puts notices on its
cigarette packets. I do not suppose you smoke for a
10 moment, but have you seen those packets?
A. Yes.
11
Q. Some say, for example, "smoking causes cancer" or "lung
12 cancer". Have you seen those notices?
A. I have not seen those.
13
Q. I assure you they do. Take it from me they do or assume
14 they do. Is that a statement with which you would
strongly disagree?
15 A. No, it is a statement I would agree with.
16 Q. Do you agree with the government that it is advisable that
people should have that information on a packet when they
17 buy their cigarettes?
A. Yes, I do.
18
Q. I want to come to the cancers of which you have particular
19 knowledge and which are in some sense at the centre of
this case; those are cancer of the breast and cancer of
20 the colon and rectum. Before I get there, I want to ask
you first of all about the kinds of evidence which are
21 available to determine the aetiology of those two kinds of
cancer, but I also want to ask you this: When we get to
22 cancers of the colon and rectum, is it inapt to talk about
cancer of the colon? Are there different kinds of colon
23 within us which may get cancer?
A. Yes, there are. When the food passes through from the
24 stomach, it first of all passes through a part of the gut
called the small intestine. It is called the small
25 intestine simply because the calibre of the intestine, the
diameter is narrower than the bit of bowel later on -- the
26 large bowel -- which is of a wider calibre, but they have
functional differences. The small intestine is
27 responsible for the absorption and digestion of many of
the food substances that we need for our life.
28
When the food passes then, having been -- where all the
29 nutrients have been removed -- the food then passes into
the large bowel, which is mainly concerned with absorbing
30 fluid from the bowel contents. So at the end when it
leaves the body, it leaves the body in a formed fashion.
