Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 18


     
     1        packaging is in the best interests of the environment?
     2        A.  Well, we are talking of comparison here, and I do not
     3        hold that is the case at all.  I think witnesses have come
     4        forward before me and spoken about that very issue, madam.
     5
     6   Q.   You would accept, of course, would you not, that a lot of
     7        people will not perceive your policies and actions to be in
     8        the best interests of the public and the environment?
     9        A.  I believe it is possible.
    10
    11   Q.   But it is not in the best interests of the public to
    12        promote food that is high in fat and low in fibre?
    13        A.  I missed the question.
    14
    15   Q.   You would accept that it is not in the best interests of
    16        the public to promote food that is high in fat and low in
    17        fibre, to encourage people to eat more and more of it?
    18        A.  I believe we have a responsibility to tell our
    19        customers that McDonald's can fit, has a place to play, in
    20        anyone's balanced diet and lifestyle.  I believe we do
    21        that.  It is very difficult to determine whether a growing
    22        teenager or a sedentary octogenarian require the same food
    23        nutrition, males and females, we know do not require the
    24        same things.  To put everyone in the same basket is to me
    25        naive.
    26
    27        I believe McDonald's speaks probably better than anyone
    28        else in the industry in providing customers that
    29        information so they can make informed decisions about their
    30        diet and their lifestyle.  I do not think we do anything
    31        wrong at all.  I believe we sell the food products that you
    32        yourselves as members of the public eat in your homes, or
    33        certainly the public at large do, and that is what we sell.
    34
    35   Q.   You are encouraging people to eat.  Your goal is to
    36        encourage people to eat?
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Where are we going now, because I do not want
    39        your cross-examination, any more than I want Mr. Preston's
    40        answers to the questions you ask just to turn over the
    41        ground which I have to decide on all the evidence and the
    42        comments on it which I will hear.  All you are asking, all
    43        you are doing, is putting to Mr. Preston what your case is
    44        on all these matters, and all he is doing is putting what
    45        McDonald's answers to it is.
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:   OK.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I feel I have rather picked up what your case
    50        is and what McDonald's case is in the last 245 days. 
    51 
    52   MS. STEEL:   OK.  All right.  Mr. Preston, I will put it to you 
    53        that to have that statement as your goal is ludicrous and
    54        completely at odds with the fact of your Corporation and
    55        how it is run?
    56        A.  I would dispute that 100 per cent.
    57
    58   Q.   It is just another attempt at pure propaganda?
    59        A.  Again, I dispute it 100 per cent.
    60

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