Day 031 - 05 Oct 94 - Page 25
1 Q. Right. I mean, have people looked at putting them
2 together in terms of diet?
3 A. Yes.
4
5 Q. But not in ----?
6 A. Not yet in terms of mechanism. Quite clearly, people
7 are putting these things together in their minds in terms
8 of the dietary advice they are given because, as I have
9 mentioned, the Scottish Report in particular comes up with
10 the same recommendations for both cancer and for heart
11 disease.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I can pursue it in this way: Any
14 researcher into the causes or the causes of the promotion
15 of cancer is likely to know, is he or she not, about
16 causes of damage to the endothelium?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. One might expect, therefore, that if it is a question of a
20 migrating cancer cell in the circulation finding it easier
21 to implant with an unhealthy endothelium, they will have
22 got on to that mechanism and investigated the extent to
23 which it is possible, therefore, to trace implantation,
24 easier implantation, of cancer cells with an unhealthy
25 endothelium back to a diet high in fat or saturated fat?
26 A. Yes, I think that is true.
27
28 Q. Has there been anything like that?
29 A. I do not know. The cancer people are mainly concerned
30 in terms of cell migration with the basement cell
31 membrane, which is the layer under the endothelium, which
32 is really quite interesting because, of course, they have
33 to get through the endothelium before it gets to the
34 basement cell membrane.
35
36 Q. Is this a theory you have heard others canvass or is it a
37 bright idea of your own? That is all I am asking you.
38 A. I am terribly sorry, my Lord. These are the sort of
39 silly things that scientists do from time to time; when
40 they are confronted with the problem, their mind is almost
41 inevitably looking for solutions to it.
42
43 Q. Did this come to you, for instance, when you sat down to
44 write this statement?
45 A. In a flash -- absolutely.
46
47 Q. That was the first time?
48 A. I had thought about it before.
49
50 Q. But it is the first time you have expressed it in writing?
51 A. It is the first time I have expressed it in writing.
52
53 Q. Have you discussed it with any colleagues?
54 A. I have discussed it with other colleagues.
55
56 Q. But that is as far as it had got?
57 A. Yes. If I may say so, your Lordship, I really made
58 this statement because, being a teacher (because part of
59 my profession is involved in teaching), I always believe
60 that people need to have some kind of rational explanation
