Day 287 - 25 Oct 96 - Page 09
1 that because the headquarters was in the same area in
2 Guatemala City, which seems to me a bit of a bizarre
3 presumption and only goes to show Mr. Cesca's, we would
4 say, lack of knowledge about the beef industry in
5 Guatemala. But, in any case, it is an admission that what
6 applied to Procasa would apply to IGG at an even earlier
7 date. Obviously, the deforestation would have been even
8 more recent.
9
10 Then on page 37, lines 3 to 11, he was asked if the
11 allegation about export to McDonald's in the USA from
12 Guatemala which, as we have seen, has been printed in a
13 number of magazines and books, for example in Dr. Nations'
14 article, also in 'Hoof Prints in The Forest'. I think it
15 is a reference in Dr. Nations' article. I could get the
16 reference, if it is necessary, actually.
17
18 In any event, Mr. Cesca did not know of any investigation.
19 "So far as I know..." - he said - "...we did not even know
20 about it." Again, this is another example of either
21 recklessness by McDonald's in ignoring criticism or
22 refusing to investigate when they know it may turn up
23 things they do not want to know about.
24
25 This would probably be a suitable time to look at Dr.
26 Nations' statement. I seem to have, for some reason, left
27 the documents at home that I was going to bring today,
28 which is a bit stupid. Dr. Nations' statement of April
29 9th, 1994, for this case, is a letter to McDonald's, in
30 fact, adduced in evidence by McDonald's. This is quite
31 interesting. Yes, to Ray Cesca.
32
33 He said, about the statement made to him by someone from
34 the company at IGG about exporting to McDonald's US
35 suppliers, that he was not inclined to take it literally,
36 because of McDonald's -- he was generalising the export of
37 beef to the US fast food market as McDonald's. That is he,
38 the person that made the statement. McDonald's being the
39 best known of the fast food restaurant chains. There is an
40 interesting point about McDonald's being a symbol and being
41 the main market leader. But he talked about other
42 information he gathered during his research which
43 indicated, not showed, that McDonald's US beef supplies
44 come exclusively from the United States and are in fact
45 sourced from retired US dairy cattle.
46
47 Well, as we have heard, that information could only have
48 come from McDonald's, or would only credibly have come from
49 McDonald's, because obviously as a researcher he would want
50 to get it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. But, as we
51 have heard, McDonald's in the United States is not sourced
52 exclusively or even in the main part from retired US dairy
53 cattle. Dr. Gonzales said it was something like 50/50, in
54 which case it seems that Dr. Nations was given incorrect
55 information by McDonald's, or, in any event, he was relying
56 on incorrect information, which goes to emphasise the
57 danger of hearsay or the weight that should be given to
58 that particular point when it is a statement of fact rather
59 than opinion; a matter of fact that is a simple matter of
60 fact, did they or did they not use exclusively US dairy
