Day 186 - 10 Nov 95 - Page 27


     
     1        other.  That is really how people are going to read this
     2        leaflet.  They will read all the arches.  My argument is
     3        that basically on their own they mean absolutely nothing.
     4        People will just -- I doubt they will even think about
     5        them.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, I understand.
     8
     9   MS. STEEL:  They then go on to read the leaflet and basically
    10        find out what is the leaflet all about.
    11
    12        In terms of very real risk, and that you will suffer, can
    13        I just say that even if the leaflet had clearly stated
    14        McDonald's food causes cancer, that people would not have
    15        assumed that everybody who eats at McDonald's will get
    16        cancer or that even a sizeable proportion of those who eat
    17        at McDonald's will get cancer.
    18
    19        As we have seen already, adverts and cigarette packets
    20        state that smoking kills, smoking causes fatal diseases,
    21        smoking causes cancer, smoking causes heart disease, nobody
    22        understands these to mean that if you smoke you will get
    23        cancer and heart disease and die as a consequence, not even
    24        that all regular smokers will get cancer, etcetera.  They
    25        know that what it means is that if you smoke, you increase
    26        your chances of suffering from heart disease or cancer.
    27
    28        Everybody knows people who smoke, people who have smoked
    29        for years and who have not got lung cancer and/or heart
    30        disease or whatever, and they know that not everybody is
    31        going to suffer those diseases, nor even the majority.
    32        Likewise, most people know that McDonald's sells food to
    33        millions of people.  If they do not eat at McDonald's
    34        themselves, they know others that do eat there and they
    35        know that not everyone is dropping dead as a consequence.
    36
    37        They know generally that even people who consistently eat a
    38        junk-food diet for the whole of their lives, not all of
    39        them are going to get heart disease or cancer, or
    40        necessarily the vast majority of them.  But, particularly
    41        in relation to McDonald's foods, they are just not going to
    42        assume that even if it did say "McDonald's food causes
    43        cancer", they would not assume that that means that the
    44        majority of people who eat there are going to get cancer as
    45        a result.
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If I make sure I understand the way you are
    48        putting it, I understand what you told me you say the
    49        meaning is.  As I have said, I have made a note of that,
    50        your equivalent of that and your equivalent of H, but if 
    51        you just look at the quote as it has been transcribed. 
    52 
    53   MS. STEEL:  The quote?
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The quote from me on 25th September.
    56
    57   MS. STEEL:   Right.
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you have a copy?
    60

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