Day 040 - 21 Oct 94 - Page 13


     
     1        text?
     2
     3   Q.   It is the Defendants' copy; you must ask them.
     4
     5   MR. MORRIS:  That is fine.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I have a comment to make before you ask a
     8        question, but let Dr. Millstone continue reading first.
     9        I have some query to raise.
    10        A.  Forgive me.  Were you asking me to read to halfway down
    11        the left-hand column on page 171 at the end of -----
    12
    13   MR. RAMPTON:  No, I would like you to read on.  You can read the
    14        Comments as well, if you like, and the Evaluation and the
    15        References.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is really the whole of pages 170 and 171.
    18
    19   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, yes, it is, to save time.
    20        A.  I have now read it.
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There is something which troubles me to some
    23        extent, and it is this:  Dr. Millstone has kindly given me
    24        his CV.  He has a First degree in physics.  He is well
    25        qualified as a philosopher.  He is certainly an expert in
    26        science policy.  I can see, therefore -- this is addressed
    27        to Mr. Millstone and Mr. Rampton, Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris
    28         -- he has expertise in whether various public bodies are
    29        taking the right approach in principle, whether they are
    30        giving the benefit of any doubt to consumers or
    31        manufacturers, and I can see that Dr. Millstone may also
    32        serve a useful purpose in referring us to scientific papers
    33        which have dealt with various relevant topics.
    34
    35        What, at the moment, I am unclear about is the extent to
    36        which Dr. Millstone feels able to comment on and puts
    37        himself forward as an expert on the appropriate forms, the
    38        appropriateness of various forms of testing groups of 50,
    39        long-term testing, 90-day or whole life and so on.
    40
    41        I say that because his last answer started off:   "Now, it
    42        is quite possible that a toxicologist or a group of
    43        toxicologists such as the Scientific Committee for Food
    44        might say", then carried on with some comment about 90-day
    45        or whole life.  Whether you ask, Mr. Rampton, or whether
    46        Ms. Steel or Mr. Morris asks, I must know to what extent
    47        Dr. Millstone feels able to comment on that as an expert.
    48        Because if you start off:  "It is quite possible that a
    49        toxicologist might say", it is tantamount to saying:
    50        "I think that".  I need to know on what basis I am to 
    51        treat your evidence. 
    52 
    53   THE WITNESS:  Is that a question to which I am now being invited
    54        to respond?
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is a matter whether you want to pursue it,
    57        Mr. Rampton, or Mr. Morris or Ms. Steel.
    58
    59   MR. RAMPTON:  I approach the matter in this way:  I see
    60        Dr. Millstone, as I said earlier, as being roughly in the

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