Day 022 - 12 Sep 94 - Page 09

     
     1        there are any similarities or differences.
     2
     3        The trouble with these retrospective analyses is that bias
     4        can creep in, because, for example, the people that may
     5        want to participate in the study as controls may be
     6        enthusiastic about diet, they be much more interested
     7        about their diet and about other aspects of their life,
     8        such as exercise and so on, than people who have actually
     9        got the illness.  The major problem in all of these
    10        studies is trying to find two groups of people who are
    11        genuinely comparable, so you can then study the various
    12        factors which might be influencing their life expectancy
    13        and the illnesses they subsequently get.  So it is the
    14        prospective studies which are more reliable.
    15
    16   MR. MORRIS:  Dr. Arnott, is it not a fact that many responsible
    17        international governmental and academic organisations have
    18        said that they consider there is a link between diet and
    19        cancer, although the factors are not known exactly?  Would
    20        that be reasonable?
         A.  I think what is true to say is that people have
    22        suggested that there may well be a link between diet and
    23        various forms of cancer, although one has not been able to
    24        show that in scientifically conducted trials.
    25
    26   Q.   If we just look at a few examples which are not
    27        necessarily in a completely coherent order, but if we look
    28        at the document that was recently served, The Scottish
    29        Diet.
    30
    31   MR. RAMPTON:  One problem about that particular document which
    32        I noticed -- it was given to me five minutes before your
    33        Lordship came into court -- is it is incomplete.
    34
    35   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  I am going to quote from it; I will tell you
    36        why.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Are you familiar with it?
    39        A.  I am not.
    40
    MR. MORRIS:  The reason I am going to quote that is because it
    42        has a quote from the WHO Report, World Health
    43        Organisation, on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of
    44        Chronic Diseases (1990).  You are familiar with that
    45        report, I presume -- sorry, on the second page of that
    46        document?
    47        A.  Yes.
    48
    49   Q.   Which is The Scottish Diet.  There is a quote from the
    50        World Health Organisation? 
    51        A.  Yes. 
    52 
    53   Q.   I apologise to the court; we have not the World Health
    54        Organisation report, but we are trying to get that today
    55        from the Science Reference library.
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Are you familiar with the World Health
    58        Organisation report?
    59        A.  I have seen it, yes.
    60