Day 055 - 25 Nov 94 - Page 64
1 A. Yes.
2
3 Q. It was, was it? Do you then recognise that when you wrote
4 it you had a responsibility to, so far as possible,
5 eliminate from it inaccurate or misleading statements?
6 A. There was certainly no intention that it should have
7 been inaccurate or misleading. This is a subject on which,
8 it is fair to say, that there are different opinions and
9 different views. This report was drawn up for the National
10 Food Alliance. I am well aware that there are different
11 opinions which may come from different quarters.
12
13 Q. Do you agree -- this report has, what, something over 170
14 references, does it not?
15 A. Yes.
16
17 Q. -- not everybody who reads it is going to have an access to
18 those references, are they?
19 A. The reason the report is referenced, if they so wish to
20 follow them up, then they can do so. Without any
21 references, that would not have been possible.
22
23 Q. Do you agree that if you give references in writing a paper
24 of this kind, you have an obligation not to misrepresent
25 the effect of the references which you make; do you agree
26 with that?
27 A. Yes.
28
29 Q. Do you also agree that you have an obligation not to
30 suppress parts of references which are uncomfortable to
31 your thesis?
32 A. I do not think there was any conscious suppression went
33 on in putting this case.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, that is not the question. There cannot
36 be any difficulty about the answer. You clearly have an
37 obligation, do you not, to make partial quotes from
38 something you give as a reference, otherwise it gives
39 spurious authority to what you are saying, does it not?
40 A. Yes, but I also wanted to point out that in a document
41 of this nature one could not from every reference that one
42 quotes give everything that maybe in that reference. Some
43 of these references are very long. I would not wish it to
44 be thought that by not including everything from a
45 reference that that was suppression of information.
46
47 Q. In support of the objection raised to what you called the
48 advertisers' viewpoint, at the top of the last paragraph on
49 page 20 of this report, you cite a single report by the
50 University of Strathclyde in relation to tobacco,
51 I understand, am I right?
52 A. Yes.
53
54 Q. Above that you write: "It has been argued that", this is
55 still under the heading "Children's Influence on Food
56 Purchases" from the previous page?
57 A. Yes.
58
59 Q. "It has been argued that has children become older they
60 become more negative in their attitudes towards
