Day 158 - 19 Jul 95 - Page 49


     
     1
     2        So far as Vesty is concerned, that was one occasion in
     3        1983, a very small quantity of beef exported to this
     4        country.  In that case, the plant is at Barretos and,
     5        according to Lord Vesty's letter, if it is to be believed,
     6        and at the moment it is not evidence, came from three
     7        grazing areas of the country, the Mato Grosso, Goias and
     8        Minas something or other, Minas it is on my map.
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  And the flood plains of River Paraguay.
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  And the flood plains of the River Paraguay.  He
    13        says that none of those grazing areas is more than or he
    14        may say they were all -- I will actually look at it so
    15        I get it right; my Lord, it is 13A of that tab we have been
    16        looking at -- no, he is stronger actually than what I was
    17        about to say.  He says all the areas are well within 1,000
    18        kilometres of Barretos.  That is on that one occasion.
    19        When your Lordship sees my map, you will see how far from
    20        Barretos 1,000 kilometres is.
    21
    22        Dealing with the Vesty beef in 1983, even assuming that
    23        Mr. Morris was right that some part of that grazing land,
    24        perhaps in the Mato Grosso, had at some time been
    25        rain forest -- certainly, there is no material to suggest
    26        that it was at the time concerned which was 1983 -- even
    27        supposing that he had been right about that, and there is
    28        no sensible material to suggest that he is, first, there is
    29        no direct evidence at the moment as to when that area or
    30        those areas were last rain forest as opposed to some other
    31        kind of dry or scrub forest as, for example, Buenacasti in
    32        Costa Rica.  Second, it was one occasion, a small quantity
    33        of beef in 1983.
    34
    35        Putting those two facts together, the Vesty incident, if
    36        I can call it that, cannot conceivably provide any basis
    37        for an allegation that McDonald's activities in this
    38        country, because it concerns only the export of beef to
    39        this country, are even remotely responsible for causing
    40        damage to the environment in Brazil or to the social
    41        conditions of the people in Brazil.
    42
    43        It is a small, compartmentalized incident which took place
    44        on a small scale a very long time ago, and there is no
    45        material available to ground a belief that it has happened
    46        more often than that.  So, my Lord, I put Vesty entirely on
    47        one side.
    48
    49        I now pass up, if I may -- I have one for the Defendants --
    50        it has a key.  I am afraid it is a bit messy.  What I have 
    51        done is to draw circumferences and various radii.  I have 
    52        drawn the southern border of the rain forest, 
    53        Amazonian forest, following the Braslo map which has been
    54        verified by Dr. Gomez Gonzales.
    55
    56        For present purposes, all that matters is what reasonable
    57        grounds for belief are there that there is a case or there
    58        is not a case to be made by this pleading?  I have marked
    59        in yellow the Vesty grazing areas and, of course, that is
    60        very rough.  The River Paraguay is just to the right of the

Prev Next Index