Day 040 - 21 Oct 94 - Page 13
1 text?
2
3 Q. It is the Defendants' copy; you must ask them.
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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 -----
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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.
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17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is really the whole of pages 170 and 171.
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19 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, yes, it is, to save time.
20 A. I have now read it.
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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?
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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