Day 103 - 14 Mar 95 - Page 09

     
     1        not fall foul of anything.  First of all, just explain to
     2        me, I think I know the answer, but why H&SE output would
     3        not come within the scope of your responsibilities?
     4        A.  Obviously, the information that comes from the H&SE
     5        generally, I am aware of.  We have a department at Sun
     6        Valley where somebody is specifically responsible for
     7        safety within the company, and we rely on that department
     8        for keeping us informed about occupational hazard exposure
     9        limits, all this kind of thing.  So, that saves me having
    10        to read all the original documentation.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Direct Dr. Pattison to the part you want to
    13        put to him.
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:  If you could turn to page 10, please?
    16        A.  Yes.
    17
    18   Q.   You see paragraph 35?
    19        A.  Yes.
    20
    Q.   If you could read that?
    22        A.  Yes.
    23
    24   Q.   Would you accept that?
    25        A.  As I say, I do not know.  I am not an expert on what
    26        people can and cannot do.  I know that people's senses of
    27        smell vary enormously.  Some people have very sensitive
    28        noses, others do not.  If it says so, I have to accept
    29        that.
    30
    31   Q.   Is that not something you would have looked into, though,
    32        because you are relying on the farm hands and managers to
    33        detect when the ammonia is too strong?
    34        A.  Of course we do take measurements of ammonia as and
    35        when it is required.  As I explained in evidence before,
    36        there are well-recognised levels of ammonia which are
    37        harmful to the chicken as well as to people.  Those levels
    38        are well recognised and we use those as guidelines.
    39
    40   Q.   Are they the same, the levels for humans?
         A.  As I explained before, the levels at which we do not
    42        want to go above for chickens are 20 parts per million.  If
    43        you go above 50 parts per million, you can actually start
    44        to see damage occurring to the respiratory tract of the
    45        chicken.
    46
    47   Q.   Looking at what is written here, would you recognise that
    48        some people do not detect ammonia smell at the level of 20
    49        parts per million?
    50        A.  They may or may not and I am sure there is great 
    51        variability between people. 
    52 
    53   Q.   When you test for ammonia, is that when it is something
    54        that is giving you cause for concern so you want to check
    55        on how high the level is?
    56        A.  It can be done for a whole variety of ways, to test new
    57        ventilation systems, to test new environment/index.html">litter material and also
    58        if you have concern about the environment within a house.
    59        There are all sorts of reasons for doing it.
    60