Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 06

     
     1        they only did this because they felt in some way
     2        responsible for Preston, then put that.
     3
     4   MS. STEEL:   Dr. Banks was called in following that and in
     5        response to that, was he not?
     6        A.  Yes.  You do understand that E.coli 0157: H only became
     7        a worldwide consideration over the period of the last four
     8        years.  It is like everything else in science, if a new
     9        bacterium was discovered tomorrow and it had an effect on
    10        food, I and my staff would do everything we could to learn
    11        everything possible about it.
    12
    13   Q.   There was a serious outbreak of E.coli 0157 in 1982, in
    14        fact, was there not, in the USA?
    15        A.  I do not have any knowledge of it.
    16
    17   Q.   You do not know about that.  So, in fact, you do not know
    18        whether it was a new bacteria discovered only in the last
    19        four years?
    20        A.  I did not say it was a new bacteria discovered; I said
         it only became the attention and a lot of activity on it in
    22        the last four years.  But I am not going to mention again
    23        the name of the company for obvious reasons, but already
    24        that name has been mentioned.
    25
    26   Q.   I want to go back to the document that we were looking at
    27        that we only had one copy of yesterday.  I will hand
    28        another copy.
    29
    30   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you know which bundle it is in?
    31
    32   MS. STEEL:  It is not in your bundle at present.
    33
    34   MR. RAMPTON:  Ms. Steel, my Lord, says she wants to go back to
    35        the document.  That is not, perhaps, quite the right way to
    36        proceed.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Ms. Steel heard what -- have you any
    39        objection to me seeing the document?
    40
    MR. RAMPTON:  No, my Lord.  I must make it perfectly clear.
    42        Ms. Steel or Mr. Morris said yesterday that -- your
    43        Lordship is not going to be influenced, I know perfectly
    44        well, by inadmissible evidence.  My concern is, quite
    45        obviously, a different one.  I am very resistant, partly on
    46        the grounds of time spent and wasted, partly on grounds of
    47        publicity, to inadmissible documents being used for an
    48        illegitimate purpose.  I do not at all object to your
    49        Lordship -----
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do not say any more because I understand that 
    52        from what you have said previously.  Let us have copies of 
    53        the -----
    54
    55   MR. MORRIS:  I do not think Mr. Rampton understands the
    56        difference between inadmissible evidence and inadmissible
    57        documents.  A document is still available to be referred
    58        to; whether it is evidence or not itself is another
    59        question.
    60