Day 106 - 23 Mar 95 - Page 29
1 treatments. Then a varied, sometimes quite high, ingestion
2 through residues in animal feeds. Also, some worming
3 boluses, i.e. slow release capsules fed to cattle to
4 control intestinal parasites of OP origin.
5
6 MR. MORRIS: "OP", organophospherous?
7 A. Indeed. Now, the interesting thing, if I may say, in
8 terms of evidence (and this is an interesting example of
9 looking at the figures and then looking past the figures),
10 in that context one looks at the figures, as I have said,
11 quite accurately in terms of the official evidence, that
12 there is no evidence of significant or even measurable
13 levels. Now if one refers to the MAVIS report -----
14
15 Q. Shall we get that out?
16 A. Yes.
17
18 Q. It is the one that was served today.
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Was one put in bundle V or presumably not?
21
22 THE WITNESS: My Lord, if one looks at page 20 which is the last
23 page, there is a chart representing national surveillance
24 scheme for residues in meat, 1st January to 30th November
25 1994. About a third of the way down there is an item
26 marked: "2. Pesticides Organophosphates" and then a
27 second heading underneath that "Organochlorine", as you
28 see, split into three species.
29
30 Now, the point that emerges from this is that they do not
31 report pesticide residues per se, but simply report
32 actionable level, i.e.-----
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So there should be a full stop over the "NO"
35 in the top of those two columns?
36 A. Yes, quite, "Number. Above action level". Now, the
37 superficial inference is that there is no pesticide
38 residue. That is not the case. There are pesticide
39 residues routinely found, but they are below at so-called
40 action level and, therefore, not reported. As I say, a
41 superficial glance at that might say: "Ah, there are no
42 pesticides found", that is not the case and that is not
43 what that table represents.
44
45 The second point (and it is quite an important point) is if
46 one looks at the two subheadings Organophosphates and
47 Organochlorines, and then one looks across as to the type
48 of sample taken, in all instances it is renal fat. Now,
49 the interesting thing about this is the testing protocol is
50 of some antiquity and is devised specifically to find or
51 organochlorines. The place to look for organochlorines is
52 in renal fat. That is where they accumulate. Renal fat is
53 a good indicator because it has got the most stable fat
54 within the body and, therefore, any long term accumulations
55 of pesticide will show with some accuracy in that fat.
56
57 However, organophospherous, especially when applied
58 topically on the skin, as is common, will not be found in
59 renal fat. It metabolises, it breaks down into components
60 very rapidly which subsequently can in different
