Day 245 - 07 May 96 - Page 53
1
2 Q. Then the final page of the London Greenpeace fact sheet
3 appears on the second page of the bundle on the right-hand
4 side and it is identical except that at the very bottom
5 they have added:"At last, a healthy and humane
6 alternative. Please read on."
7
8 They have taken off the top strip which says:
9
10 "Produced by Greenpeace London for worldwide
11 anti-McDonald's protests on United Nations World Food
12 October 16th"?
13 A. I have got that page, yes.
14
15 Q. Do you see that that is identical apart from those parts?
16 A. Yes.
17
18 Q. So you would agree that that Veggies leaflet contains the
19 entire London Greenpeace fact sheet which you are currently
20 suing over?
21 A. Yes.
22
23 Q. If you turn over to the page behind that there is a letter
24 from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert to the Managing Director of
25 Veggies Limited and it is dated 8th October 1987.
26 A. 8th October 1987, yes.
27
28 Q. Yes. It says:
29
30 "We are instructed by McDonald's Corporation of Oakwood,
31 Illinois who run the McDonald's chain in the USA and
32 elsewhere in the world.
33
34 There has come to our client's attention a leaflet
35 published and/or distributed by your company and dated June
36 1987" -- which incidentally is the one we have just been
37 looking at and if you look on the first page of it, it has
38 got the date June 1987 on there?
39 A. Yes I have got it.
40
41 Q. "Which contains an article entitled: 'What is wrong with
42 McDonald's'. We believe this article emanates from an
43 organisation known as Greenpeace London. It is offensive
44 and grossly defamatory of our clients who, through us, have
45 obtained and printed a policy and corrections from many
46 other publications including other student newspapers and
47 indeed from BBC 2 concerning the allegations it contains.
48
49 The article suggests that our clients are guilty of murder
50 and torture because of the manner in which they obtain
51 their meat produces. It is alleged that they slaughter
52 beef cattle which has been reared on ranches created out of
53 former rainforests which they have been instrumental in
54 destroying and further that the wood from the trees in
55 those forests has been used in the production of paper bags
56 which our client use. All this is totally untrue and, on
57 our client's behalf, we will set the record straight as
58 follows.
59
60 1. Our clients neither own, run nor manage
