Day 240 - 24 Apr 96 - Page 16

     
     1        all of the 1980s, beef from cattle reared on recently
     2        deforested tropical land in countries like Costa Rica was
     3        used by all the major fast-food retailers in the US
     4        including McDonald's.  I believe this conclusion to be a
     5        statistical inevitability."
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You have one more paragraph to read
     8        Mr. Morris.
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  I am just making a note of the questions I
    11        was going to ask Mr. Secrett.
    12
    13        "During the 1970s, and at least up until the end of 1986,
    14        it was therefore impossible, in my considered view, for any
    15        US retailer of fast-food beef products, including
    16        McDonald's, to be 100 per cent certain that their
    17        hamburgers contained no beef supplies originating from
    18        South American or Central American tropical forest
    19        countries:  whatever purchasing policy McDonald's, or other
    20        similar chains, may claim to have had or whatever
         instructions they may have issued to their wholesale
    22        suppliers."
    23
    24        Moving on to 6.5:
    25
    26        "I would also like to point out that Annette Allen, in a
    27        crucial part of her internal memo (11.11.1985) that does
    28        not refer to our conversation, explicitly recognised that
    29        the Burger King and Jack-in-the-box hamburger chains in the
    30        US had already publicly admitted using South American beef,
    31        and that Burger King 'has said that any hamburger chain
    32        denying using such meat, is lying'.
    33
    34        Then omitting the rest of that page, and the next page down
    35        to the bottom paragraph, which will be under 6.9:
    36
    37        "I am not aware of any public statement from Dr. Myers
    38        confirming that definite proof of McDonald's innocence in
    39        this matter ever arrived, and/or retracting his original
    40        descriptions of the beef supply connections between Latin
         America and the US fast-food end market.  Nor have I seen
    42        or been made aware of any letters or other statements from
    43        US beef suppliers to McDonald's in the United States,
    44        covering the period up until the end of 1986 providing such
    45        proof."
    46        A.  Your Honour, I wonder if I could just add something
    47        briefly to that paragraph.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes?
    50        A.  I have known Dr. Myers since the early 1980 and have 
    51        maintained regular but sporadic contact with him over that 
    52        period on a variety of issues. 
    53
    54   Q.   Yes.
    55
    56   MR. MORRIS:  Right.  That is Norman Myers; is it not?
    57        A.  Yes, Dr. Norman Myers.
    58
    59   Q.   Is that the same Dr. Myers that is referred to in the
    60        correspondence with the World Wildlife Fund and Prince