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
