Day 053 - 22 Nov 94 - Page 22
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But there was a possibility that you might
3 have to show a causal link?
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5 MS. STEEL: No, we did not realise that we had to do that.
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7 I think it may be helpful if you could turn to my opening
8 speech?
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10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Give me the reference then.
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12 MS. STEEL: It is Day 2, 29th June. If you turn to page 8 of
13 that, line 26, I say:
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15 "I am going on to nutrition now. Yesterday it was said in
16 court that the Plaintiffs' experts were going to say that
17 it was irresponsible to link cancer with diet. I want to
18 ask the Plaintiffs whether they are saying does that mean
19 they consider that the Health Education Authority and the
20 Cancer Education Co-ordinating Group of UK are
21 irresponsible, or even McDonald's themselves?"
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23 Then I make reference to some documents. Again, on the
24 next page, I talk about a leaflet which talks about the
25 links between diet and cancer. Then at line 10:
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27 "On top of this, in McDonald's own publication 'Good Food,
28 Nutrition and McDonald's', there is a recognition of links
29 between diet and certain diseases. I want to read part of
30 this."
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32 I will not read it again, but it talks about related to
33 diet. Then the important point is at line 18:
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35 "Why are we being forced to spend a great deal of time and
36 energy on proving these links? Why are the Plaintiffs
37 calling evidence to contradict what is stated in their own
38 document?"
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40 If Mr. Rampton did not realise before then that we clearly
41 thought the case was about links, he should have noticed at
42 that point and got up and said: "Well, Ms. Steel is
43 mistaken. We accept that there is a link; it is just that
44 we do not accept that there is a causal link."
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46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The point I have been making is from the
47 bottom of that page and over, in relation to diet and food.
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49 MS. STEEL: In actual fact, the reason we got into this
50 argument about the frequency with which customers eat at
51 McDonald's was because Mr. Wheelock asserted that people
52 did not eat there very often, and so we felt we had to
53 counter that. It was not because it was specifically what
54 we were relying on in our case.
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56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I must say that is not how I read the bottom
57 of page 9 and the top of page 10. It is just the point
58 I was seeking to make to you, that there is or may be a
59 difference between diet and food, but what you are saying
60 is that some customers of McDonald's eat quite enough of
