Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 18
1 packaging is in the best interests of the environment?
2 A. Well, we are talking of comparison here, and I do not
3 hold that is the case at all. I think witnesses have come
4 forward before me and spoken about that very issue, madam.
5
6 Q. You would accept, of course, would you not, that a lot of
7 people will not perceive your policies and actions to be in
8 the best interests of the public and the environment?
9 A. I believe it is possible.
10
11 Q. But it is not in the best interests of the public to
12 promote food that is high in fat and low in fibre?
13 A. I missed the question.
14
15 Q. You would accept that it is not in the best interests of
16 the public to promote food that is high in fat and low in
17 fibre, to encourage people to eat more and more of it?
18 A. I believe we have a responsibility to tell our
19 customers that McDonald's can fit, has a place to play, in
20 anyone's balanced diet and lifestyle. I believe we do
21 that. It is very difficult to determine whether a growing
22 teenager or a sedentary octogenarian require the same food
23 nutrition, males and females, we know do not require the
24 same things. To put everyone in the same basket is to me
25 naive.
26
27 I believe McDonald's speaks probably better than anyone
28 else in the industry in providing customers that
29 information so they can make informed decisions about their
30 diet and their lifestyle. I do not think we do anything
31 wrong at all. I believe we sell the food products that you
32 yourselves as members of the public eat in your homes, or
33 certainly the public at large do, and that is what we sell.
34
35 Q. You are encouraging people to eat. Your goal is to
36 encourage people to eat?
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Where are we going now, because I do not want
39 your cross-examination, any more than I want Mr. Preston's
40 answers to the questions you ask just to turn over the
41 ground which I have to decide on all the evidence and the
42 comments on it which I will hear. All you are asking, all
43 you are doing, is putting to Mr. Preston what your case is
44 on all these matters, and all he is doing is putting what
45 McDonald's answers to it is.
46
47 MS. STEEL: OK.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I feel I have rather picked up what your case
50 is and what McDonald's case is in the last 245 days.
51
52 MS. STEEL: OK. All right. Mr. Preston, I will put it to you
53 that to have that statement as your goal is ludicrous and
54 completely at odds with the fact of your Corporation and
55 how it is run?
56 A. I would dispute that 100 per cent.
57
58 Q. It is just another attempt at pure propaganda?
59 A. Again, I dispute it 100 per cent.
60
