Day 284 - 22 Oct 96 - Page 30
1 with there.
2
3 And then he goes on on page 50, line 8, to say: In Costa
4 Rica, where the first McDonald's restaurant was opened in
5 1970, some of the land on which the beef was raised had
6 been rainforest up to the 1960s, whilst other cattle
7 growing areas in that country from which the beef had come,
8 had not been rainforest since the 1900s.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which page is that?
11
12 MR. MORRIS: This is page 50.
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, that was reflected in the evidence,
15 was it not?
16
17 MR. MORRIS: Yes. Oh yes.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Whether I accept the evidence or not, that
20 was what was said about that land.
21
22 MR. MORRIS: Yes. I mean, Mr. Cesca had it in his statement
23 and Edie Bensilum had it in her statement. In fact, this
24 is relevant to the meaning of the word rainforest. If I
25 could find Edie Bensilum's statement - (Pause) - she does
26 say on the last page of her statement, page 5, by the way,
27 just while I have this in front of me: I informed Mr. Rose
28 that farm supplying McDonald's in Costa Rica were
29 established between 1920 to 1960. Most of them, and I
30 underline "most", being established in the 1950s. Well, it
31 was not quite.... Anyway, there was evidence from
32 Mr. Carrier about that matter about continuing
33 deforestation on established farms.
34
35 Mr. Rampton then referred to the 1992 letter - this is page
36 53 - and he reads it out on his first day. I have not got
37 the letter in front of me but I have Mr. Rampton's reading
38 out of it, when from McDonald's Corporation, about the
39 destruction of Amazonia.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which year do you say the letter is?
42
43 MR. MORRIS: That is the 1992 letter.
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The one you referred to yesterday?
46
47 MR. MORRIS: Yes, the letter to Mr. Hooper from Elizabeth
48 Densmore. I note that she talks about Brazilian beef in
49 general and she starts off: Thank you for seeking
50 clarification about McDonald's position regarding the
51 clearing of tropical rainforests. We share your concern
52 about this environmental issue, et cetera, et cetera.
53
54 It goes on about the greatest cause of deforestation and
55 the largest percentages down to cattle ranching. And then
56 she says -- but she is talking about deforestation of the
57 Brazilian Amazon. And then she goes on to talk about the
58 importance of rainforest to the ecology of South America
59 has been well documented. We believe that our policy helps
60 to enable its preservation by restricting demand for
