Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 37
1 they goes to McDonald's, maybe on alternate days, whatever,
2 and McDonald's is contributing, and it is a negative
3 contribution, to the fat load in diet and that as a result
4 people are risking their health in the long run.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Well, that is what I was trying to say,
7 that Professor Wheelock did appear there to be accepting a
8 risk worth warning about from a certain kind of diet.
9
10 MS. STEEL: Well, we submit that that is exactly what the
11 leaflet is doing, it is making a warning about a certain
12 kind of diet, a high fat low fibre diet, a high sodium
13 diet, and that the distinction between what Professor
14 Wheelock accepted in that statement that we have just
15 referred to, between that and what is stated in the London
16 Greenpeace fact sheet is wafer thin, and that to hold one
17 to be innocuous and the other to be libelous would be
18 completely absurd.
19
20 I don't know if the stenographers want a break. (Pause)
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, we will have our five minute break.
23
24 (Short Adjournment)
25
26 MS. STEEL: In relation to the evidence from the food
27 commission about 87 percent of people eating fast food
28 every week, and that was not just McDonald's, that was
29 Wimpy, Burger King, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken,
30 and 31 percent of people saying that they ate it every day,
31 and also the evidence from the United States about people
32 visiting McDonald's three or four times or more a week ----
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What was the food commission? What was
35 included in fast food there? I mean, on the days when I
36 have a sandwich at lunchtime, am I having fast food or
37 not?
38
39 MS. STEEL: I think it was those four that were referred to,
40 but I am not exactly -- I mean, I have not refreshed my
41 memory on that part. Sorry, I can check.
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think it could have meant just a
44 sandwich. I think it must have meant something like what
45 you have just described.
46
47 MS. STEEL: I think that was what the survey said. Anyway, in
48 relation to that evidence about the frequency with which
49 people were visiting McDonald's, and obviously we have got
50 the figures from Mr. Fairgrieve as well, Professor Wheelock
51 did state that the more high fat meals you eat the more
52 care you have to take to ensure that your total diet meets
53 the recommendations. That was day 21, page 28.
54
55 Again, we would ask why is it libelous for the fact sheet
56 to call on McDonald's to be more honest and open about
57 these concerns relating to the links between diet and ill
58 health.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is that right? I mean, if the fact sheet
