Day 032 - 06 Oct 94 - Page 59
1 Q. Leaving aside grazing in Peckham, you have no data, do
2 you, Dr. Lobstein, which enable you to wag a finger of
3 admonition at McDonald's for poisoning their customers?
4 A. Explicity McDonald's or fast food?
5
6 Q. This case is about McDonald's.
7 A. Unfortunately, for example, the British Nutrition
8 Foundation Survey we looked at earlier that included
9 figures on consumptions of take-away foods, did not
10 indicate whether they came from McDonald's or not.
11
12 Q. The answer to my question is: "No, I do not have any such
13 data", is it not?
14 A. I have not gathered it myself, certainly, but I am
15 sure there is data is available. I think the reference to
16 the survey in Leeds by Fiona Carruthers might show that.
17
18 Q. If it should turn out at the end of the case,
19 Dr. Lobstein, that the numbers of people that ate
20 McDonald's food more than once a week was insignificant in
21 a population sense, then whatever you might say about
22 fast food or fat food or sugary food or salty food could
23 not be applied to McDonald's, could it?
24 A. I would still want to know what the trends were. I
25 would not take an absolute figure at the particular moment
26 in time as being a sufficient argument. I would want to
27 know if there was an increase and, if so, what the likely
28 impact of that increase would be.
29
30 Q. Let me put to you an hypothetical question. Suppose it
31 turned out that McDonald's share of the burgerhouse market
32 was about the same now as it was in 1982/83, but suppose
33 it also turned out that the burgerhouse market generally
34 was bigger -- right ---
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. -- am I making sense -- than it was in those days, yet it
38 still turned out that there was an insignificant number of
39 people eating McDonald's food more than once a week, why
40 then, the arguments against McDonald's would fall to the
41 ground, would they not?
42 A. Not at all because the trend is still going in the
43 direction, to my mind, of increased problem.
44
45 Q. Let us turn to something you mentioned earlier which is
46 balance. You made reference to a document, or Mr. Morris
47 or Ms. Steel did -- I forget which -- called The Balance
48 of Good Health?
49 A. Yes.
50
51 Q. Which is one of your documents -- I say "your documents"
52 -- a document produced for this case. You think it was
53 produced by the Health Education Council this year?
54 A. I understood it was published by the Health Education
55 Authority this year. I also understood it emanated from
56 the Department of Health.
57
58 Q. So much the better for my purposes. Can you find it
59 there? (Handed) Behind my first page is a page with a
60 picture of what might be mushrooms or anything else on the
