Day 241 - 26 Apr 96 - Page 51
1 notes, the most significant of which in my sheet is on the
2 first page, which includes the phrase in the centre of it
3 -- I do not know if it is your page, the same page number,
4 it has a little "2" in the bottom right-hand corner,
5 "Exgua", which we take to be Exguapagua, "sells to
6 supplier who sells to McDonald's". If that can be made a
7 note that it is in the context of export of beef to the
8 USA.
9
10 I will not read out any other notes which were
11 contemporaneous notes from 1979.
12
13 Then we have the statement from Dr. Nations on Conservation
14 International headed notepaper to me dated September 14th
15 1995 and signed by him.
16
17 "Mr. Morris, this letter certifies that I have re-examined
18 the text of my 1983 published article, 'Rainforests and the
19 Hamburger Society' Environment volume 25(3), 1983,
20 co-authored with Daniel Komer, and that I still consider it
21 to be an accurate description of reality as based on my
22 investigation of the Latin American beef trade during the
23 early 1980s.
24
25 "As well, despite several inquiries, I have not found any
26 employee of Conservation International who claims to have
27 reviewed McDonald's records of beef sources" . Does
28 everybody have the same article? It is "Rainforests and
29 the Hamburger Society". It should be behind it. It is in
30 the original Defendants' documents.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have a note that it was document No. 16 in
33 your original list.
34
35 MR. MORRIS: Yes, it might be.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But I also have a copy which is immediately
38 behind.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: Do you have one with this picture down the
41 right-hand side on the front page?
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
44
45 MR. MORRIS: It might be No. 15. This one has a little "15" on
46 it. It is 15, I think. There were two versions of it and
47 this is the version he has verified from the paper
48 Environment. It is actually No. 15. I have cut it down
49 quite substantially, but there is still a lot of what you
50 might call general expert opinion there which has not
51 appeared in other statements.
52
53 I will read the introduction: "By Dr. James Nations and
54 Daniel Comer". This is 1983. "Few Americans associate
55 fast-food hamburgers or TV dinners with the eradication of
56 Central America's tropical rainforests, but for more than
57 30 years the United States' appetite for cheap imported
58 beef has been a critical factor in the future of those
59 forests.
60
