Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 37


     
     1        they goes to McDonald's, maybe on alternate days, whatever,
     2        and McDonald's is contributing, and it is a negative
     3        contribution, to the fat load in diet and that as a result
     4        people are risking their health in the long run.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Well, that is what I was trying to say,
     7        that Professor Wheelock did appear there to be accepting a
     8        risk worth warning about from a certain kind of diet.
     9
    10   MS. STEEL:   Well, we submit that that is exactly what the
    11        leaflet is doing, it is making a warning about a certain
    12        kind of diet, a high fat low fibre diet, a high sodium
    13        diet, and that the distinction between what Professor
    14        Wheelock accepted in that statement that we have just
    15        referred to, between that and what is stated in the London
    16        Greenpeace fact sheet is wafer thin, and that to hold one
    17        to be innocuous and the other to be libelous would be
    18        completely absurd.
    19
    20        I don't know if the stenographers want a break.  (Pause)
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes, we will have our five minute break.
    23
    24                         (Short Adjournment)
    25
    26   MS. STEEL:   In relation to the evidence from the food
    27        commission about 87 percent of people eating fast food
    28        every week, and that was not just McDonald's, that was
    29        Wimpy, Burger King, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken,
    30        and 31 percent of people saying that they ate it every day,
    31        and also the evidence from the United States about people
    32        visiting McDonald's three or four times or more a week ----
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What was the food commission?  What was
    35        included in fast food there?  I mean, on the days when I
    36        have a sandwich at lunchtime, am I having fast food or
    37        not?
    38
    39   MS. STEEL:   I think it was those four that were referred to,
    40        but I am not exactly -- I mean, I have not refreshed my
    41        memory on that part.  Sorry, I can check.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not think it could have meant just a
    44        sandwich.  I think it must have meant something like what
    45        you have just described.
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:   I think that was what the survey said.  Anyway, in
    48        relation to that evidence about the frequency with which
    49        people were visiting McDonald's, and obviously we have got
    50        the figures from Mr. Fairgrieve as well, Professor Wheelock
    51        did state that the more high fat meals you eat the more
    52        care you have to take to ensure that your total diet meets
    53        the recommendations.  That was day 21, page 28.
    54
    55        Again, we would ask why is it libelous for the fact sheet
    56        to call on McDonald's to be more honest and open about
    57        these concerns relating to the links between diet and ill
    58        health.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Is that right?   I mean, if the fact sheet

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