Day 283 - 21 Oct 96 - Page 22


     
     1
     2        We will move on to nutrition.  The links between diet and
     3        degenerative diseases including heart disease and cancer,
     4        are those views in the public domain.  Clearly, they are.
     5        The World Health Organisation thinks they are, the US
     6        Government Secretary of State welcomed the report which we
     7        looked at, I cannot remember whether it was the 800 page
     8        one, I think it was, which linked diet and cancer and
     9        explained how the relationship was causal.
    10
    11        The UK Health Education Authority produces pamphlets
    12        indicating the same.  McDonald's own leaflet, produced only
    13        months before the London Greenpeace fact sheet, as far as
    14        we can identify the timescales as neither of us were
    15        involved with either the research or the production of the
    16        fact sheet, on page 12 of McDonald's own fact sheet about
    17        their food, called Good Food, Nutrition and McDonald's.
    18        The context is how does nutrition relate to McDonald's.  On
    19        page 12 it says:  There is a considerable amount of
    20        evidence to suggest that many of the diseases which are
    21        more common in the western affluent world, diseases such as
    22        obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease,
    23        stroke and some forms of cancer, are related to diet.  The
    24        typical western diet is relatively low in dietary fiber,
    25        roughage and high in fat, salt and sugar.  Many countries
    26        have therefore published dietary guidelines, general
    27        recommendations concerning diet which are aimed at the
    28        whole population in order to prevent - and I underline
    29        "prevent" - these diseases and to promote good health.
    30
    31        Then it goes on to say we should eat more of such and such
    32        foods and less of such and such foods.  And because of the
    33        word "prevent" it may be felt that that phraseology is
    34        stronger than the text of the London Greenpeace fact sheet
    35        linking diet and ill health.  Paul Preston stood by that,
    36        that McDonald's pamphlet.
    37
    38        McDonald's recognised that they could not deal with
    39        criticisms regarding nutrition in the 1986 memo from the
    40        United States, the internal memo which said words to the
    41        effect of we can't deal with nutrition if people don't come
    42        to us for nutrition, let us take the moral high ground and
    43        talk about balance.  As a line, it was a PR meeting in
    44        terms of how to respond to their critics.  In fact, it was
    45        minutes of a meeting; it was not a memo.  I think it was
    46        minutes of a meeting.  Again, we will look at that later on
    47        in the speeches.
    48
    49        Finally, I think it will be fair to say that it is a common
    50        view that McDonald's kind of food is junk food.  It is the 
    51        kind of food that people in general feel is not 
    52        particularly healthy.  Obviously a lot of people still eat 
    53        it.  Even the same people that eat it recognise it is poor
    54        quality.
    55
    56        In fact, while I think about that, even Professor Wheelock,
    57        who was McDonald's nutrition consultant, in a previous
    58        pamphlet we put to him talked about discouraging people
    59        from eating fatty snacky foods or something.  I cannot
    60        remember what he said.

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