Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 40
1 problem is accentuated because if you are giving
2 pigs -----
3
4 Q. Sorry, when was it 14 per cent?
5 A. It was 14 per cent, I think, about seven years ago; it
6 might have been a little less.
7
8 Q. So round about 1989 or 1990?
9 A. Yes, you have to allow for the fact that the Ministry
10 only puts these figures out about a year after the tests
11 have been done, so I would think that it would have been
12 the end of the 1980s. To illustrate what -----
13
14 Q. What is the concern, what is the actual problem, with
15 sulphadimidine residues consumed by humans?
16
17 MR. RAMPTON: No, pigs' kidneys first.
18
19 MR. MORRIS: Sorry, in pigs' kidneys. How does that relate to
20 the consumption of, say, pork for beef burgers or sausages?
21 A. There are two problems. There is a proportion of the
22 population who have what called doctors an idiosyncratic
23 reaction to certain drugs, for instance, penicillin. The
24 word "idiosyncratic" is used by doctors when they do not
25 know what it is caused by. That is manifested in the case
26 of some sulphur drugs, of which sulphadimidine is an
27 example, with a reaction in some people called the Stephen
28 Johnson syndrome, which I described before.
29
30 The other problem with the use of antibiotics is that if
31 you use them too much the bugs will develop a resistance.
32 If they get a multiresistance, then it will be more and
33 more difficult for doctors to use them. This problem has
34 come to a head again now because the Veterinary Products
35 Committee is just going through a series of meetings at
36 this moment because of the problems raised by the misuse of
37 the drugs exactly as you are asking me. So, once again we
38 have a recurring problem.
39
40 Q. The Stephen Johnson disease, what is that exactly?
41 A. Well, it is, if you like, an allergy. The patient
42 would break out in a rash. As far as I remember, there is
43 a drop in blood pressure. The patient would feel very ill
44 and weak and would have to be confined to bed and would
45 need medical treatment.
46
47 Q. Is it your case that some people have actually got this
48 from -- it has been identified that sulphadimidine residues
49 have been responsible for this?
50 A. I would not say sulphadimidine residues have been
51 attributed to it. It is very difficult if people have
52 certain complaints to know exactly what has caused it.
53 That is why the word "idiosyncratic" comes up quite
54 frequently. What is known that if people are administered
55 sulphadimidine or sulphur drugs for medical reasons, there
56 is a danger that doctors are warned about. If you wanted a
57 reference -----
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Rightly or wrongly, I am really only
60 interested in evidence where you can say, it will be argued
