Day 124 - 10 May 95 - Page 35


     
     1        evidence -- some local counties or I cannot remember
     2        exactly.  It became quite a big concern?
     3        A.  Well, what I recall was there was a county in New York
     4        State, Suffolk County, as I recall, or it might have been
     5        Nassau County, Long Island, passed a ban on the use of
     6        styrofoam packaging.  I do not recall the year; perhaps
     7        some witness before me has given you that information.  But
     8        my recent recollection of that is that the City Council or
     9        the body that passed the ban a few years ago has just
    10        recently reviewed the issue and evidently upon further
    11        study realised that the use of packaging, the agents that
    12        went into the formation of the packaging, was not, in fact,
    13        harmful at all, and they want to rescind the ban on
    14        packaging which, basically, supports the information that
    15        the industry had supplied that governmental body.  So they
    16        have done their own research or gotten additional research,
    17        and their view of the matter is somewhat different today
    18        than it was then.
    19
    20   Q.   But the point that I am asking about anyway is that there
    21        was pressure on McDonald's to review its packaging material
    22        at that time, use of styrofoam?
    23        A.  It certainly caused us to review the use of that
    24        packaging, but we are constantly looking at all of the
    25        packaging that we use to see if we can improve the quality
    26        of our product.  So that was again a state of the art
    27        vehicle package that was used then.  So, yes, we were
    28        disturbed that there was a likelihood that we would have to
    29        discontinue its use.
    30
    31   Q.   Presumably, you were very pleased to be put under pressure
    32        and under the public spotlight about your use of styrofoam
    33        packaging blown with CFCs agents, yes?
    34        A.  We were?
    35
    36   Q.   Pleased.
    37        A.  Of course we were not pleased.
    38
    39   Q.   You would not want to contribute to the destruction of the
    40        ozone layer, would you, for example, with your packaging
    41        materials?
    42        A.  We certainly would not knowingly use packaging or any
    43        other substance that would be harmful to the environment.
    44        We certainly would not want to break any laws in the
    45        development of packaging, so I would not -----
    46
    47   Q.   It is always very helpful then that people put you under
    48        pressure -----
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  You see, you throw yourself by using the 
    51        words "put under pressure".  Most people do not enjoy being 
    52        put under pressure; they may not mind that much, they may 
    53        grow pretty resistant to it.  But, by and large, they
    54        would, I would suppose, rather be educated, if it is in a
    55        topic which has not already occurred to them, in a more
    56        gentle way than being put under pressure.  So, the moment
    57        you start off your question:  "You would enjoy being put
    58        under the pressure", the answer is bound to be "no"
    59        whatever follows.
    60

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