Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 63
1
2 Q. You do not know -- you have not enquired?
3 A. I honestly could not say "yes" or "no" to that.
4
5 Q. Is it something that McDonald's wants its suppliers to
6 adhere to, not using antibiotics routinely?
7 A. I mean, antibiotics are used in the chickens at Sun
8 Valley to control diseases and you have had a lot of
9 positive benefits on the welfare of the animals because of
10 those. I am not totally sure the extent to which they are
11 used in the laying hens.
12
13 Q. But you do not have any concern about that?
14 A. Well, the antibiotics, I believe, that are used for
15 chickens are so far and away removed from any antibiotics
16 that could ever be used for humans that there is not really
17 an issue.
18
19 Q. Where did you get that information from?
20 A. Well, that is my understanding.
21
22 Q. Is that what someone has told you?
23 A. It is -- I guess someone would have had to tell me that
24 or I read it somewhere. That is how you get information.
25
26 Q. It is not something you have looked into in any great
27 depth?
28 A. I have not made a lifetime study of it, no.
29
30 Q. No, not a lifetime study. Beyond reading, perhaps, one
31 article that said it or -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is it something you have really thought about
34 at all until it was just raised a couple of minutes ago?
35 A. Sorry, was that a question to me?
36
37 Q. Is the question of antibiotics being routinely given to
38 laying hens whose eggs come into McDonald's something which
39 you have had to apply your mind to at work or something
40 which you are now thinking about and have some recollection
41 in relation to because you have been asked questions about
42 it?
43 A. No, it is certainly an issue that I would have
44 discussed with Oasters in the past. I know the situation
45 at Sun Valley. The discussion would have happened a while
46 ago, and I cannot remember everything I am told, but
47 certainly it would have been an issue that I have
48 discussed, yes.
49
50 MS. STEEL: That was not actually quite what I was asking.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, it was what I asked because I wondered
53 whether it had been a feature of his work or not.
54
55 MS. STEEL: But have you actually beyond reading one article or
56 being told by one person that the antibiotics used by
57 chickens are far removed from the antibiotics that are used
58 by humans, that there will not be any effect and there is
59 no issue -----
60
