Day 070 - 20 Dec 94 - Page 16


     
     1   MR. RAMPTON:  Does your Lordship mean "Jungle Burger"?
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  What did I say?
     4
     5   MR. RAMPTON:  You just said "a basis".  I take it your Lordship
     6        means "Jungle Burger"?
     7
     8   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  We have pleaded, on the first page of our nutrition
    11        pleadings -- and they have been there, I do not know how
    12        long -- that particular paragraph:  "Meat from cattle
    13        ranches in Central and Latin America, including some using
    14        ex-rainforest land, has been supplied to restaurants
    15        operated or franchised by the First Plaintiff and/or its
    16        subsidiaries.  In this way McDonald's bear some
    17        responsibility for and/or have contributed to destruction
    18        of rainforests in Central and Latin America by whatever
    19        means that destruction has been carried out."
    20
    21        Sorry, that is not nutrition; that is destruction of the
    22        environment.  Bearing in mind that is our pleadings -----
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You have pleaded that, but what is the basis
    25        for even suggesting that anything apart from the 80 tonnes
    26        has been exported from Brazil?  That is why I drew the
    27        distinction with Costa Rica.
    28
    29   MR. MORRIS:  The point is, it is our case that the scale of
    30        production, cattle ranching in Central America, is and has
    31        destroyed large amounts of rainforests, and that McDonald's
    32        bear a responsibility because of their use in those
    33        countries.  It is our allegation that they also exported to
    34        the US.  Exports to other countries would have the same
    35        effect, which is to increase the production levels in those
    36        countries beyond sustainable levels.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We are on Brazil at the moment.  I am not
    39        attacking you; I genuinely want your help.  You have
    40        80 tonnes, which is a minute amount, is it not, you have to
    41        accept, in the context of whether that has advanced the
    42        disappearance of the rainforest in Brazil by some kind of
    43        chain reaction, which is what you are really suggesting.
    44
    45   MR. MORRIS:  Dr. Gomez Gonzalez stated completely baldly on
    46        page 33 of day 68, in his evidence -- I will not read it
    47        out now, but it can be referred to.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Tell me the gist of it.
    50 
    51   MR. MORRIS:  "McDonald's does not buy --  no, we do not import 
    52        products from Brazil, and it is not only because of our 
    53        public relations that may be affected, but it is primarily
    54        because Brazil is limited in their export capabilities
    55        because of the disease that is called hoof and mouth
    56        disease......  So you cannot import to the US, you cannot
    57        import product from Brazil."
    58
    59        I asked had they bought from Brazil in the past.
    60

Prev Next Index