Day 106 - 23 Mar 95 - Page 24
1 respect, in the course of this evidence between what might
2 be found in the gut of an animal and human health.
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is why I asked my question. I am not
5 trying to steer you away from it.
6
7 MR. RAMPTON: We are not terribly concerned at this stage with
8 the health of the actual animals.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The whole point time I am trying to keep in
11 my own mind that salmonella does not necessarily mean any
12 animal or any person is ill at all.
13
14 THE WITNESS: That is absolutely true. I was halfway through
15 answering a question to say that -----
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Start again.
18 A. I have personally tested laying flocks in this instance
19 where we recovered 84 per cent of birds with salmonella,
20 none of which showed any signs of illness and, in fact,
21 were in peak condition and laying condition. That is more
22 often the case than otherwise, so that you will commonly
23 find a variety of organisms which have the potential to
24 cause disease but no actual signs of disease. That,
25 incidentally, does also apply to human beings.
26
27 MR. MORRIS: If it was established that humans were eating meat
28 products, well, eating animals who had been treated with
29 hormones, growth promoting hormones -- in fact, it has been
30 established in America, for example -- then what is the
31 health concern about that?
32 A. Concern, I am not really qualified to answer that other
33 than a general opinion, that I would be reluctant to accept
34 meat contaminated by artificially introduced hormones.
35
36 Q. They are banned in this country, yes?
37 A. Yes.
38
39 Q. Do you know the reason they are banned?
40 A. Well, because of health fears -- with some justice.
41
42 Q. As far as pesticide residues are concerned, you said that
43 you have done some research on this in recent times, yes,
44 you have been looking into this. What are your concerns
45 about this?
46 A. My concerns are that the bulk of pesticides used today,
47 I think something like 60 per cent of the pesticides on the
48 approved register, accounting for the bulk of use, are now,
49 whether for veterinary use or general agriculture use,
50 organophospherous compounds. The are of the same group of
51 the nerve gas we saw used in the Tokyo underground, the
52 sarin that was used there.
53
54 I have been over the past two years interviewing at great
55 length a very large number of ill people whose symptoms
56 accord with signs, with known characteristics, of low dose
57 organophospherous exposure acquired variously through use,
58 contact with, organophospherous compounds or consumption of
59 products so contaminated.
60
