Day 186 - 10 Nov 95 - Page 53


     
     1        "McDeadly" must be referring to something else.  If that
     2        be right -- it may be that it refers to both, of course,
     3        which is perfectly possible -----
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is what occurred to me.
     6
     7   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, it is perfectly reasonable, it may well do,
     8        but for this purpose I am not concerned with that.  If it
     9        is to be reasonably taken as referring to the passage about
    10        food which starts immediately underneath it, as it
    11        happens:  "What's so unhealthy about McDonald's food?" and
    12        comes after "McCancer" and "McDisease", then it and the
    13        cartoon (and I will say a word about the general nature of
    14        the cartoons, a brief word in a moment, if I may) are, we
    15        would suggest, read with the text (and I will come to an
    16        earlier bit of the text in a moment) indicative of the
    17        degree of risk which consumption of food carries with it,
    18        creates in the person who eats it?
    19
    20        That may be critically important.  It is, I apprehend, why
    21        your Lordship has used, for example, the words "a very real
    22        risk".  I attach that phrase to the eating of the food
    23        simpliciter.  I have said already (and I will say it again
    24        just for the last time), I do not really mind whether one
    25        gets there as a consequence of direct consumption or via
    26        diet.  The fact is one is being told in this leaflet by
    27        reference to the text, the headlines and the cartoon that
    28        the risk of getting these diseases if you eat the food is,
    29        at the very least, very real, serious or whatever word one
    30        likes to use.
    31
    32        May I revert, and I hope it will be the last time in the
    33        case, in fact, since this is the final argument on this
    34        topic, to the cigarettes.  Mr. Morris held up a poster
    35        which, I think, said "Smoking causes heart disease" --
    36        I have not got it because he held it up and I did not see
    37        it properly -- (handed) thank you very much -- "Smoking
    38        causes heart disease", and I think, as I recollect, that
    39        Ms. Steel made the same point about the sub-heading,
    40        "What's so unhealthy about McDonald's food", that it did
    41        not say anything much more than this: "Smoking causes heart
    42        disease", or, as I have on my autobiographical packet at
    43        the moment, "Tobacco seriously damages health".
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:   I do not think that is quite what I said.
    46
    47   MR. RAMPTON:  Whether it is what was said or not, my Lord, that
    48        I would suggest is very apt as an interpretation of what
    49        this leaflet is saying.  Substitute "smoking" or "tobacco"
    50        with "McDonald's food" and one has it precisely.  Then one 
    51        has it faithfully reflected, if your Lordship chooses to go 
    52        that way, either through our meaning F or, if your Lordship 
    53        prefers, through my edited version of your Lordship's
    54        meaning.  Eating it carries a very real risk from which you
    55        will get these diseases.
    56
    57        My Lord, I add by way of context, which I did not draw
    58        particular attention to when I opened this argument -----
    59
    60   MR. MORRIS:  Is it appropriate to say that Mr. Rampton is not

Prev Next Index