Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 41
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Listen to Mr. Morris, please, Dr. Millstone.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: This is a suitable time to bring it up for the
4 court's benefit. It is volume VI of nutrition pink volume
5 VI. I do not think you have to get it, Dr. Millstone.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just tell me what the point is.
8
9 MR. MORRIS: Pink volume VI and is at tab 30. It is a
10 McDonald's document entitled Nutrition and Ingredient
11 Issues, 1986, USA. On page 59AG, whatever that is,
12 handwritten bottom right-hand corner, an extract from the
13 document: "A question from a member of the public, a
14 typical question and a typical answer from the company".
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
17
18 MR. MORRIS: The question is: "'I have an allergy to BHA and/or
19 BHT, artificial flavours and artificial colours. What food
20 can I eat at McDonald's?' The answer from McDonald's: 'We
21 have eliminated BHT, Sodium Nitrate and sulphating agents
22 from all our products'." Do you think that is a
23 responsible approach in the USA by McDonald's?
24 A. Sorry, I thought I was being invited not to pay
25 particular careful attention. Could you repeat that
26 statement?
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I was suggesting you did pay attention to
29 Mr. Morris and not to the document you were looking at.
30
31 MR. MORRIS: "The question from a typical member of public is:
32 'I have an allergy to BHA and/or BHT, artificial flavours
33 and artificial colours. What foods can I eat at
34 McDonald's?' The answer is: 'We have eliminated BHT,
35 Sodium Nitrate and sulphating agents from all our
36 products'." Is that in the US -----
37 A. I think it must be characterised as an incomplete
38 response because the question included a reference to BHA
39 and the answer does not refer to BHA, which implies that
40 BHA continues to be present in their products, and if a
41 person has a specific sensitivity to that, then one might
42 expect their attention to be drawn to that fact.
43
44 Q. You say it partially a good development in 1986?
45 A. It is -- I would deem that to be a step in a sensible
46 direction, yes.
47
48 Q. Right. If we move on then to the next compound which is
49 Carrageenan?
50 A. Yes.
51
52 Q. Could you very quickly summarise the case against
53 Carrageenan?
54 A. Well ----
55
56 Q. Perhaps relevant to McDonald's?
57 A. The entire debate about Carrageenan, as I understand
58 it, goes along these lines. Carrageenan: There are two
59 kinds of Carrageenan; there is the original form extracted
60 directly from seaweed which is called native Carrageenan,
