Day 124 - 10 May 95 - Page 37
1
2 Q. I think it is -----
3 A. I would just say to you that we would not knowingly
4 proceed to break the law or want to use products that we
5 knew conclusively was damaging the environment. Our
6 Company is responsible and responsive, so if there are
7 situations that are brought to our attention that we
8 usually respond to those matters and do the appropriate
9 responsible thing.
10
11 Q. But the reality is that the Corporation knows, and has
12 admitted in this court, that it would phase out its use of
13 CFCs because of concerns over damage to the ozone layer,
14 and it has done that ahead of the worldwide legislation,
15 and the evidence has been heard that the Corporation has
16 admitted that the HCFCs are something like five per cent as
17 damaging as CFCs, but they are still damaging. The
18 argument has been given that it is better to use HCFCs than
19 CFCs, but, as far as the ozone layer is concerned, it is
20 still damaging it. What I am asking you is, how much
21 education does McDonald's Corporation need to cease having
22 a deleterious environmental effect on the environment?
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You had better ask him first of all whether
25 he accepts CFC-use does have a detrimental effect on the
26 environment, or whether he knows, whether Mr. Beavers knows
27 that it does.
28
29 MR. MORRIS: Do you know that -----
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is the answer to that?
32 A. I was going to say I cannot say conclusively that it is
33 damaging. I have read some material on the subject and
34 I have heard arguments on both sides of the issue.
35 I think, to your question, I would hope that you ask that
36 question of some of the expert witnesses that we ----
37
38 MR. MORRIS: It has all been done. As far as I am concerned, it
39 is 100 per cent sustained it has a deleterious effect on
40 the ozone layer, which we all know protect us from the
41 sun's ultraviolet rays and causes skin cancer.
42 A. I would think the responses that you got from our
43 expert witnesses on the subject, that the information they
44 gave you, the responses, would be better than the responses
45 you would get from me. I am not immediately conversant on
46 the subject. I have not done any subsequent reading on
47 that to give you, what I considered to be, the kind of
48 intelligent response this court would want to have.
49
50 Q. I was not trying to establish the fact, because, as far as
51 I am concerned, they are established, but what I was asking
52 you is -- Mr. Rampton will correct me -- I believe it is
53 Turkey and the Philippines that are still using HCFCs.
54
55 MR. RAMPTON: The evidence is, my Lord, that in February 1994,
56 of all the countries in the world that use McDonald's foam
57 for their packaging, the Philippines and Turkey were still,
58 to some extent, using HCFC-22.
59
60 MR. MORRIS: Let me put it to you, the reason they are still
