Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 43
1 from the body. When the bile acids are manufactured in
2 the liver and sent down through the bile ducts and end up
3 in the digestive track, fibre adsorbs them and absorbs
4 them and brings them out with the waste. If there is
5 insufficient fibre in the diet, the bile acids can be
6 turned back into cholesterol and enter the circulation
7 once again.
8
9 Q. Moving on to page 16: Are you an expert in advertising?
10 A. No, I am not.
11
12 Q. What are you saying about the McDonald's Corporation and
13 its promotions in that case?
14 A. Well, March in the United States every year is called
15 National Nutrition Month; the idea being that good,
16 nutritious information will be produced for the benefit of
17 American public. In March of 1993 the McDonald's
18 Corporation -----
19
20 Q. Before we go into that detail -- we all have a copy of
21 that; it is in the documents served today - OK, let us
22 look at that first then. It is No. 10 in the
23 miscellaneous supplementary list, cancers. I can give you
24 a copy to look at. (Handed) Sorry, would you just give
25 the background again and then refer to the document?
26 A. Yes. In March 1993 the McDonald's Corporation began
27 to market at its restaurants small plastic toys for
28 children. There were four of these toys, one of which was
29 a miniature plastic steak, beef steak, with, as you can
30 see in the illustration, wearing sunglasses, having a
31 moustache, big muscles and looking strong and fit. Along
32 with this plastic toy, which is about may be three inches
33 high or thereabouts -----
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What has he got beneath his nose, is that a
36 moustache?
37 A. Yes, your Honour.
38
39 Q. So he is wearing a school cap and a moustache, is he?
40 A. That may a baseball cap to show what a sporting chap
41 he is. Along with this toy which, I believe, was given
42 free along with the so-called Happy Meal came a booklet,
43 and the booklet said -- I believe that the text in
44 question is on this page -- it says: "Foods in the meats
45 and proteins group give your body the tools it needs to
46 help you grow and build healthy muscles. Eating two
47 servings a day of these foods can make it easier to do
48 things like climb higher and ride your bike farther."
49
50 We wrote a letter to Mr. Mike Quinlan, the Chairman of the
51 Board of McDonald's Corporation, and also made a complaint
52 to the Federal Trade Commission of the US government to
53 point out that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever
54 that eating meat makes it easier to do things like climb
55 higher and ride your bike farther; that, in fact,
56 encouraging children to eat such items would be doing
57 these children no favour at all and that, in fact, it may
58 be doing them long term harm.
59
60 I would add the caveat that in what we call the meat
