Day 040 - 21 Oct 94 - Page 35

     
     1   MR. RAMPTON:  Professor Walker told us about it.
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  In fact, it was someone in Professor Walker's
     4        own town; a young woman or girl who ate a meringue.
     5        A.  I think that event has triggered some further
     6        research.  That is my understanding.
     7
     8   MR. RAMPTON:  If it be right that peanuts, for example, and
     9        perhaps wheat in some its forms with some people ---
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Syriac disease.
    12
    13   MR. RAMPTON:  -- can produce life-threatening conditions and,
    14        indeed, can cause death as in the case of that young girl.
    15        What do you propose should be done to protect those members
    16        of the public who are susceptible to that kind of
    17        life-threatening allergy?
    18        A.  Well, I certainly would not recommend banning the
    19        peanut, and labelling obviously has a vital role to play.
    20        I do, however, want to make a very sharp distinction
         between additives and foods.  Peanuts are a nutritious
    22        food.  They provide proteins and other nutrients and, in
    23        that respect, are desirable for very large sections of the
    24        population.
    25
    26        By contrast, food additives, particularly things like
    27        synthetic colours or bulking agents, like Carrageenan, have
    28        no nutritional benefit whatsoever.  Therefore, I would
    29        judge food additives by very different standards from those
    30        which I think should apply to nutrient foods.
    31
    32   Q.   Nobody needs to eat peanuts, Dr. Millstone, do they?
    33        A.  Nobody needs to eat peanuts, but when people eat
    34        peanuts typically the peanuts nourish people.
    35
    36   Q.   There are plenty of alternatives?
    37        A.  There are plenty of alternatives. Vegetarian and
    38        vegans, on the other hand, have a much narrower range of
    39        alternatives, especially for protein sources than do many
    40        other people, but I can see no good case for banning
         peanuts; whereas I can see considerable stronger cases for
    42        banning or tightly restricting some food additives.
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You draw that distinction.  Do you draw a
    45        distinction between additives used to make the presentation
    46        of food more attractive and additives used for potential
    47        safety reasons?
    48        A.  I most certainly do.  As I think I indicated in
    49        response to a previous question, when juxtaposing risks and
    50        benefits, one makes a different assessment of a 
    51        preservative which inhibits the development of bacteria 
    52        which could cause bacterial food poisoning from an additive 
    53        such as a synthetic colour which has no direct benefit to
    54        human health.
    55
    56   MR. RAMPTON:  Dr. Millstone, what should we do with those,
    57        leaving aside the validity of your proposition entirely, if
    58        I may, what should we do about those additives which, in
    59        your view, do serve a useful purpose in stopping us from
    60        getting salmonella or botulism or it might be E. coli or