Day 241 - 26 Apr 96 - Page 32


     
     1        raised in this case and hereby summarise my views.  I
     2        believe that the present global overproduction and
     3        overconsumption of beef are unsustainable from an
     4        environmental and socio-economic standpoint, as well as
     5        from a human health and animal welfare standpoint.  For
     6        this reason giant multinational fast-food chains such as
     7        McDonald's and Burger King have come under increased
     8        scrutiny and criticism in recent years for (a) using beef
     9        from countries such as Costa Rica and Guatemala which have
    10        serious deforestation problems directly related to cattle
    11        ranching and a traditional Third World agro-export model of
    12        agriculture; and (b) for exporting a model of retail food
    13        service (a US style fast-food menu high in fat and
    14        cholesterol and low in nutritional value) and beef
    15        consumption which are culturally inappropriate, unhealthy
    16        and unsustainable.
    17
    18        "Although companies like McDonald's and Burger King like to
    19        claim that they are in favour of rainforest preservation
    20        and maintain that they buy no hamburger meat from recently
    21        deforested areas, they are an integral part of a worldwide
    22        'Hamburger Connection' which -- left unchecked --
    23        threatens to destroy what's left of our tropical
    24        rainforests an undermine the possibility of sustainable
    25        agriculture in countries like Costa Rica and Guatemala.
    26
    27        "By the end of the decade the majority of McDonald's
    28        profits are slated to come from its overseas operations,
    29        with a growing Third World market, especially in Mexico,
    30        Brazil and Latin America, becoming increasingly important.
    31        With the globalization of the world economy, more and more
    32        US beef and dairy production will move south of the border
    33        to Mexico and Central America, further undermining
    34        traditional, more sustainable agricultural practices.
    35
    36        "I have read a statement by UK journalist, David Rose, of
    37        The Observer, who quotes McDonald's London management to
    38        the effect that they would not buy beef from rainforest
    39        areas deforested within 10 years previously (their stated
    40        policy up to 1988) or 25 years (their stated policy from
    41        1989 through to the present).  Of course, this policy does
    42        not exonerate McDonald's from complicity in the worldwide
    43        'Hamburger Connection' since (1) meat imported into the US
    44        from rainforest zones is routinely mixed together with
    45        domestically produced hamburger meat in the meat processing
    46        plants; (2) by their own admission McDonald's is directly
    47        complicit in rainforest destruction prior to 1988; (3)
    48        neither a 10 year nor a 25 year time span gives tropical
    49        rainforest time to naturally regenerate.
    50 
    51        As I indicate below, the only corporate policy consistent 
    52        with tropical rainforest preservation is to ban all foreign 
    53        beef imports into Northern Hemisphere countries such as the
    54        US or the UK; and in countries where McDonald's operates
    55        containing rainforests (Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica,
    56        Guatemala, etcetera) to stop buying beef from lands which
    57        were ever (or at least in the last 100 to 200 years)
    58        covered by rainforest.
    59
    60        "Years of travel and investigation in Guatemala have shown

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