Day 292 - 01 Nov 96 - Page 15
1 packaging, but CFCs as blowing agents were banned by the US
2 congress as an aerosol propellant in 1978. They said that
3 McDonald's was not aware of the CFC ozone depletion as an
4 issue until the mid 80s. Following world wide concern over
5 CFCs McDonald's phased out use of them, and slowly -- well,
6 often -- replacing them with HCFCs which, we would say, are
7 equally damaging to the ozone layer.
8
9 We are talking about one of the most serious environmental
10 global problems that the human species has ever faced,
11 which is the diminishing of the ozone level and the
12 resultant hundreds of millions of skin cancers that are
13 likely as a direct result. That is an ongoing result; that
14 damage will be done in the coming decades, whether the
15 ozone layer recovers or not, in terms of the continuing
16 damage, and also the resultant disease caused by that
17 damage.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You were going to deal at some time, with
20 the anxiety I have expressed from time to time, as to the
21 case, interesting though it may be, a matter of concern
22 though it may be, of persuading me that it is relevant to a
23 defamatory meaning in this leaflet. I know Mr. Rampton
24 picked up the gauntlet about it and McDonald's have picked
25 up the gauntlet about it, but I expressed the same concern
26 to him. If the bit about rainforest, for instance, which
27 is really the lead into this, you say, includes a comment
28 about wrecking the planet coming more or less at the end of
29 it, nevertheless, at the moment -- and I say this so you
30 have a chance to persuade me otherwise -- it seems to me,
31 however, that this is geared to destruction of the
32 rainforest, or destruction of forest, paper and environment/index.html">litter
33 comes in the same section. I see the possible relevance of
34 Polystyrene packaging to the environment/index.html">litter problem, even though
35 the leaflet refers to paper as environment/index.html">litter. It may well be that
36 Mr. Rampton accepts that the mention of environment/index.html">litter brings in
37 any kind of environment/index.html">litter, so you can have your Polystyrene as
38 environment/index.html">litter even though it is not paper.
39
40 You can have it in, therefore, as an environmental
41 consideration, let us say as environment/index.html">litter and as disposal
42 problems, but how do you get it in as a problem so far as
43 the ozone layer or skin cancer, which you have just
44 mentioned, is concerned? At the moment, it does not look
45 to me as if either of those environmental points of damage,
46 if I can describe them in that way, are referred to
47 directly or even indirectly in the leaflet.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: Well...
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You remember what I said about the test
52 I applied in part in relation to the BSE question, save in
53 so far as it might involve cruelty to animals, so far as
54 nutrition or food poisoning is concerned and the processing
55 of paper?
56
57 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
58
59 MR JUSTICE BELL: So at the moment you do need to persuade me
60 that that part of Polystyrene is relevant to any charge
