Day 245 - 07 May 96 - Page 67


     
     1        maliciously circulated untruths, you cannot justify that at
     2        all, can you?
     3        A.  I am sorry, but I feel very strongly that the aims and
     4        objectives of the organisation London Greenpeace were to
     5        smash McDonald's regardless of the truth and you are part
     6        of that organisation.  I believe you knew what you had in
     7        this leaflet was not so.  There was no evidence to back it
     8        up.  Jungle burgers, which you quote, speaks for itself.
     9
    10   Q.   Yes.  It is not surprising I might believe that McDonald's
    11        have used imported beef from Costa Rica if the Marketing
    12        Director of its sole supplier in Costa Rica is saying that
    13        he exports for McDonald's use in the USA, and he has filmed
    14        saying that.  It is not surprising I might feel it is true,
    15        is it?
    16        A.  Well, I am sorry, I believe the motive to smash
    17        McDonald's was so over powering and so over riding that
    18        everything else dwindled into insignificance.  Did you ask
    19        for proof?  I have no way of knowing.  Here and now
    20        I believe your intentions are solely to smash McDonald's
    21        and always have been.
    22
    23   MS. STEEL:  Do you ever wonder why groups campaign against
    24        McDonald's?
    25        A.  No.
    26
    27   Q.   You do not wonder?
    28        A.  No.  Why would I wonder about that?
    29
    30   Q.   Do you ever stop to think that all these people who are
    31        campaigning against McDonald's is because they believe that
    32        all these criticisms that they are making of the company
    33        are true and that is the reason why they want to expose
    34        what the company is doing?
    35        A.  But it is not true and that is why we are here in this
    36        court before this judge.
    37
    38   Q.   Do you ever stop to think that you might be wrong and they
    39        might be right?
    40        A.  About their example of the rainforests?  No way.
    41        I know our policy and what we have done about advertising
    42        to kids and owning land in rainforests, or putting down
    43        chemicals to defoliate.  No way.  I know what we have and
    44        have not done.  It is absolutely untrue.
    45
    46   Q.   Well, we have heard evidence confirming that you do use
    47        beef from cattle reared on former rainforest land.  Say,
    48        for example, the nutrition section of the leaflet, or the
    49        low pay, or the trade unions, do you ever stop to think
    50        that people might be quite right to say that your food is 
    51        not nutritious, that you pay low wages and that you do not 
    52        like ---- 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let us just divide it up in a moment because
    55        you started off asking Mr. Preston whether he ever stopped
    56        to think that people might believe that what they were
    57        saying was true and now you slipped into asking him whether
    58        it is true.  I would like you to keep them distinct because
    59        they are answers very different questions.
    60

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