Day 294 - 05 Nov 96 - Page 30
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Day?
2
3 MR. MORRIS: Day 77, page 48 - this is a point I have not made
4 - he did not deny there were pesticide residues in the
5 meat. He just said the levels were not undesirably high.
6 That was just another point.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not -----
9
10 MR. MORRIS: I cannot remember what the exact ----
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I would like you to do at some stage
13 is, if you really do think there is evidence to support one
14 burger in a million, then tell me how you come to that
15 conclusion.
16
17 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Right. You had -----
20
21 MR. MORRIS: So, moving on to the subject of growth -- I am
22 going to finish this run-through by the end of today --
23 moving on to growth promoters, McDonald's UK have said they
24 will not accept beef from cattle subjected to growth
25 promoters or hormone treatment. And I think that was in
26 their McFact book. It was not the most recent one. It was
27 the first McFact book that has been disclosed. I think we
28 disclosed it.
29
30 And we would say that is a recognition of health concerns
31 over the use of growth promoters and hormone treatment.
32 And Mr. Kenny said it was "not desirable" to have hormones
33 or antibiotics in the food chain. He believed that the
34 concern with antibiotics was that, quote, treatment
35 resistant strains of bacteria may develop in the human
36 body, unquote. That is a growing concern, as probably
37 everybody now recognises. In fact, there was some world
38 medical association conference last week or something which
39 was alarmed about this development. Mr. Kenny also
40 acknowledged "public concerns" over pesticide residues in
41 food, and stated that McDonald's "would not want them in
42 the food chain", because of health risks.
43
44 And our side have referred to a 1987 US National Research
45 Council major report on pesticide residues, which listed
46 beef as ranking second of the list of foods with the
47 greatest estimated "uncargenic" carcinogenic risk because
48 of pesticide residues.
49
50 Mr. Kenny admitted that their lettuce also contained
51 pesticide residues, although he believed the residue levels
52 were within government limits. I think Mr. Kenny works in
53 their quality assurance department.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He did. He worked under Mrs. Crawford, did
56 he not?
57
58 MR. MORRIS: Right. Then to move on to abattoir conditions,
59 which is all part of this chain of production which
60 magnifies rather than reduces the risks of chicken and
