Day 295 - 06 Nov 96 - Page 04

     
     1        dizziness, vomiting, headaches and deoxygenisation of
     2        blood, low blood pressure, collapse of the circulatory
     3        system.  He said those are the high dose phenomenon.  But
     4        he accepts there is a risk.
     5
     6        And as far as carrageenan, that is the third reference down
     7        the page, carrageenan - I think it is a thickener agent -
     8        he accepts that in its undegraded form it has toxic
     9        implications, and we know that it becomes undegraded in the
    10        gut of the person consuming it.
    11
    12        Obviously, Dr. Millstone deals with all these in greater
    13        depth.  Then, if we look on page 8, the last three
    14        references, that is where the styrene issue comes in, the
    15        transfer from the packaging to the human body, and he
    16        thought it was possibly carcinogenic in the human body when
    17        it mutates to styrene oxide.  He accepts it mutates to
    18        styrene oxide.  Dr. Millstone reported that it had been
    19        classified as probably carcinogenic.  That was on the
    20        following page, page 9.  Mr. Walker did accept that the
         transfer of styrene from the packaging into food occurs
    22        most quickly with fatty food, such as McDonald's sell.
    23
    24        Then we come on to a few thoughts from Professor Wheelock
    25        on additives.
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment.  (Pause)  Yes, you have
    28        got that in the notes.
    29
    30   MR. MORRIS:   Yes, sorry, it was in the notes.  Page 10, the
    31        first reference on page 10, Professor Wheelock, McDonald's
    32        nutritional consultant and expert, accepted there is public
    33        concern of suspicion about additives in food.  In fact,
    34        Mr. Walker also accepted that.  And he did not deny a link
    35        between additives and hyperactivity, but saying only a
    36        small proportion of people have a genuine reaction.
    37        Obviously, Dr. Millstone did provide figures which were not
    38        accepted into evidence, but if the amount of people is not
    39        in issue then the risk -- it does not really matter how
    40        many people are facing that risk, as long as there is a
         section of the population that is facing that risk, which
    42        is accepted by both sides.
    43
    44        Page 11, the second reference, Professor Wheelock accepted
    45        that a lot of additives are used because of the eating of
    46        highly processed food such as McDonald's are responsible
    47        for.  They do not serve anything, or virtually nothing is
    48        fresh.  That is their choice.  And because they choose to
    49        sell processed food, they have to use a lot of additives to
    50        compensate, and also for what you might call entertainment
    51        value, colouring, things like that.
    52
    53        Professor Wheelock accepted that colourants are used to
    54        make food more attractive.  Whether that be a general thing
    55        about processed food in the food industry, as far as we are
    56        concerned it is neither here nor there, people have a right
    57        to criticise that, especially when the additives can cause
    58        adverse reactions.
    59
    60        So we move on.  There is very little from Dr. Alan Long.