Day 289 - 29 Oct 96 - Page 37


     
     1        worked out at 45 to 50 milliamps per bird.  Obviously, that
     2        is way under what all the recommendations say for current
     3        per bird.  Obviously, McDonald's are going to argue ----
     4
     5   MR JUSTICE BELL:  Do you have a reference for that?
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:   I have another part.  I am not sure, I think there
     8        should be a reference to the whole lot, because he also --
     9        the reference I have is 89, 57, 28.
    10
    11   MR JUSTICE BELL:  What is your point on this?   I mean, whatever
    12        else you say about stunning and throat cutting and so on --
    13        and I bear in mind what Dr. Gregory said about whether --
    14        the evidence he gave which might be indications of whether
    15        the birds were sentient when they went to the knife.  I
    16        mean, obviously, the birds who had not hit the stun bath at
    17        all were sentient before they went to the knife.  It seems
    18        to me that, probably, your main point on this, plus the
    19        point which you actually made when you were asking the
    20        questions, that you say frequently (which is the word in
    21        the leaflet) has to be judged not by percentages, but by
    22        the numbers of birds it is going to affect in a particular
    23        day.  I have that point.  Let us assume, for the purpose of
    24        argument and the question I am going to ask you, that that
    25        was a good point.  Where could you do you go with the
    26        evidence of what has prevailed since?
    27
    28   MS. STEEL:   I do not know.  It is the Plaintiffs that have kept
    29        bringing in the evidence of more recent practices.  I mean,
    30        we have tried to focus on what was relevant at the time.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  All I am asking is, do you need to draw my
    33        attention to it, particularly for the purposes of your
    34        case?
    35
    36   MS. STEEL:   Not especially.  There is a couple of points I want
    37        to make.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Make those, and then we will move on.
    40
    41   MS. STEEL:   This is the same reference.  I am not sure that the
    42        first one -- I think it was all at the same point in the
    43        day, but it is possible that the reference I just gave you
    44        for the reference bit might be wrong.  But it is definitely
    45        right for this bit, which is that Dr. Pattison admitted
    46        that pre-stunning shocks used to be a big problem in the
    47        old design of the stunning baths; and he also referred, on
    48        day 59, page 53, line 46, to the changes in the slaughter
    49        line in 1993.  He agreed, on day 89, page 54, line 6, that
    50        hanging the bird upside down causes a period of distress, 
    51        though he said it was just a short period. 
    52 
    53        There is a couple of figures here which I am not sure how
    54        helpful they will be, because it is the new system.  But,
    55        bearing in mind that Dr. Gregory was not able to tell us
    56        the time from stun to neck cut and the time from neck cut
    57        to scalder -- these are the only figures we have, which is
    58        that on day 89, page 55, line 56, Dr. Pattison said the
    59        time from stun to neck cut is approximately five seconds --
    60        that is the current time -- and that the time from neck cut

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