Day 295 - 06 Nov 96 - Page 03

     
     1        organise myself here a bit.
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.  (Pause)
     4
     5   MR. MORRIS:   So going through this document, I will not dwell
     6        on much of it, the first part is about the additives, the
     7        two additives experts.  For example, on page 4, the second
     8        reference, Professor Walker agreed that potassium bromate
     9        was not banned until 1989 although there were doubts about
    10        it before that.  Dr. Millstone had said that animal studies
    11        had shown it to be carcinogenic as early as 1983, so under
    12        Dr. Millstone's view, it should have been banned in 1983,
    13        as soon as that became known.
    14
    15        At the bottom of page 4, Mr. Walker accepted on
    16        cross-examination that additives are used to control
    17        undesirable changes caused by processing food; for example,
    18        to put colour back in after it has been bleached out by
    19        processing.  And that relates to the sections of the fact
    20        sheet that refer to the use of additives as part of the
         dressing up of poor quality food or processed food.
    22        Obviously, we agree with what our witnesses were saying, so
    23        I am not going to really flag those up.
    24
    25        But I am pointing out some of the things from the
    26        Plaintiffs' witnesses.  On page 5, the last reference,
    27        Professor Walker accepted that labelling, in terms of
    28        adverse reactions from food, labelling was the key.  Then
    29        the significant part of his evidence, he then thought that
    30        having staff looking after questions and leaflets available
    31        might be enough, but that is presupposing a lot that the
    32        leaflets are there, that the staff have the time, that
    33        people know that the information is available, et cetera,
    34        that the staff can answer questions accurately.
    35
    36        Obviously, if a company was concerned about the potential
    37        adverse reactions, they would put the details on their
    38        packaging, which is completely standard, and we heard
    39        evidence about that from a number of witnesses, that all
    40        their packaging is colour coded and standard and their
         products are uniform and there is absolutely no reason why
    42        they cannot put the ingredients on the packaging.  Of
    43        course, that might interfere with the image that the
    44        packaging is trying to portray.
    45
    46        On page 6, the second reference; Ronald Walker agreed with
    47        Dr. Millstone that colourants have an allergy risk,
    48        colourant additives.  He said only a small number of
    49        people.  But if it is a risk, it is a risk, which is what
    50        we are talking about in this section.
    51
    52        Then on the fourth reference down, sunset yellow, he
    53        accepts that this additive can cause skin rash, and some
    54        people, presumably who are allergic to it, can suffer
    55        gastric upset and vomiting.  That is a colourant additive
    56        which is completely useless.
    57
    58        As for amaranth, over the page, top of page 7 of my notes,
    59        the first reference, amaranth colouring additive.  Accepts
    60        there is an allergy risk, which may include nausea,