Day 278 - 11 Jul 96 - Page 38


     
     1        it was it was at my parents' house.  It was only when I was
     2        back there at one time looking through stuff that I came
     3        across it and suddenly remembered about it.  There is
     4        undoubtedly other stuff which may or may not be in the
     5        bundles, which I have seen, which convinced me that the
     6        fact sheet was true.
     7
     8             I have seen, what I was talking about this morning, I
     9        have not said anywhere that I have read anywhere
    10        specifically a single paragraph saying that McDonald's use
    11        lethal poisons, but I have read in lots of places that
    12        McDonald's had ranching interests, indeed in some cases
    13        that they owned ranches.  And I have also read in the same
    14        sorts of articles that ranch owners and people involved
    15        with running the ranches used lethal chemicals, poisons, so
    16        putting the two together, the leaflet to me seemed to be
    17        true according to, you know, what I had seen.
    18
    19             Obviously, if McDonald's are going to operate a ranch
    20        in former rainforest land, the forests have to be destroyed
    21        and they have to be destroyed by some method and one of the
    22        methods is lethal poisons.  There was, I do remember,
    23        several references in the past to, for example, Kings
    24        Ranches in Brazil being a company which had connections
    25        with McDonald's or which McDonald's did have some interest
    26        in, and I have actually found the particular bit that I was
    27        referring to this morning.  It was actually in "Hoof Prints
    28        in the Forest", and this not the only place that I have
    29        seen it.  I do not know whether you have still got "Hoof
    30        Prints" available.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Refer me to the page.  Which page is it?
    33        A.  Which page is it?  Page 61.
    34
    35   Q.   Well, hold on a moment.  Yes, they are just in the wrong
    36        order.
    37        A.  At the top, the first paragraph on that page, it says
    38        that "More than one respected environmentalist has alleged
    39        that McDonald's operates a cattle ranch in Brazil", and
    40        this is not the only place that I have seen that.  I have
    41        seen that in other places, statements about McDonald's
    42        operating cattle ranches in Brazil.  As I say, the name
    43        Kings Ranch is one of the companies that people have cited
    44        as having connections with McDonald's.
    45
    46   Q.   But what stand do you take on that now, because it does not
    47        identify the environmentalist and I do not have one jot of
    48        evidence that I can recall that McDonald's operates, or
    49        ever has operated, a cattle ranch in Brazil.  I mean, do
    50        you accept that whatever respected environmentalist may
    51        have said that McDonald's have not ever had a cattle ranch
    52        in Brazil, or do you still say that they had them?
    53        A.  I personally do not believe McDonald's -- as I said
    54        before, we are unwaged, it has been very difficult for us
    55        to get everything, get all the witnesses to court, get
    56        information, and the rainforest issue has been the hardest
    57        one because every potential witness is the other side of
    58        the world.  And because of land ownership, and things like
    59        that, it is quite hard to investigate exactly who owns
    60        land.  And you need somebody who is very experienced in

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