Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 13
1
2 The position of the American Institute for Cancer Research
3 on that point was made as a result of a publication in
4 1982 in America of the National Academy of Sciences Report
5 "Diet, Nutrition and Cancer", which, as the court will
6 already know, contains dietary recommendations. Those
7 dietary recommendations became the basis for the
8 educational work of the American Institute for Cancer
9 Research, and thus the World Cancer Research Fund when it
10 was founded in the UK in 1980.
11
12 Q. You have been involved as a delegate to the World Health
13 Organisation conference in 1992. Do you want to say a
14 little bit about that?
15 A. Are you referring to the International Conference on
16 Nutrition?
17
18 Q. Yes.
19 A. Two things. First of all, as I may have mentioned,
20 I am a consultant to the World Health Organisation
21 European Region in Copenhagen and have given presentations
22 at WHO conferences. But, specifically, to your point, the
23 International Conference on Nutrition was originally
24 instigated by the World Health Organisation and the Food
25 and Agriculture Organisation. Its purpose was to lay down
26 world food, nutrition and agriculture policy and, as you
27 have mentioned, it was held in Rome in December 1992.
28
29 The government in this country -- and this, in my opinion,
30 was an enlightened decision -- decided, in contrast to
31 some other governments, to invite onto its delegation not
32 only people from government itself and from industry, but
33 also from non-governmental organisations, specifically
34 those representing the public interest. All governments
35 were invited to do this by the Food and Agriculture
36 Organisation and by WHO. Britain concurred with that
37 judgment. As a result, an explanation of my membership of
38 the National Nutrition Task Force, the National Food
39 Alliance was invited to supply a member to the delegation
40 to Rome and to preliminary conferences in Copenhagen and
41 in Geneva. I went to represent the National Food Alliance
42 and thus the public interest.
43
44 Q. So you were part of the government's official delegation
45 to that conference?
46 A. Yes.
47
48 Q. So would you say that your area of expertise is basically
49 public health policy?
50 A. Yes, I am not a doctor. I am not a physician. I am
51 not a research scientist. My expertise in this context is
52 the translation of science into public policy.
53
54 Q. Can I just ask the judge a question? Is it acceptable to
55 take the statement as read?
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I was going to ask you at some stage whether
58 you wanted me to do that. Are you referring to both
59 statements which Mr. Cannon has made?
60
