Day 245 - 07 May 96 - Page 06

     
     1        policy.  They assure me that we have not done as you
     2        suggest.
     3
     4   Q.   So if we have a statement from McDonald's representatives
     5        in Costa Rica and Guatemala saying the opposite, they
     6        should be discounted, should they?
     7
     8   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You must put the specific matter.
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  For example, Manual Jimenez statement of McDonald's
    11        (Costa Rica) says:
    12
    13        "The cattle slaughtered to supply the Company come from
    14        ranches in regions which were deforested in the 1950s and
    15        in the" ----
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Mr. Morris, I know it will take longer but
    18        Mr. Preston had better have it in front of him, so give the
    19        reference and he can get the bundle down and look at what
    20        is said.
    21
    22   MR. MORRIS:  I am sorry.  It is volume yellow 14, tab 44..
    23        A.  Yellow 14, number 44?
    24
    25   Q.   Yes.  Can you look at paragraph 3:
    26
    27        "As far as I am aware, none of the ranches from which
    28        Co-Ope Montecillos obtains its beef from Costa Rica are
    29        situated in rainforest nor recently deforested rainforest
    30        areas.
    31
    32        The cattle slaughtered to supply the Company come from
    33        ranches in regions which were deforested in the 1950s and
    34        early 1960s and, to the best of my knowledge, this has
    35        always been the case."
    36
    37        So when McDonald's (Costa Rica) opened up in 1970 they were
    38        using supplies some of which came from land cleared less
    39        than ten years earlier.  Do you agree with that?
    40        A.  No.  He is talking about the 1950s and the 1960s, so if
         you are talking the early 1970s, that could be 20 years
    42        earlier.
    43
    44   MS. STEEL:   Or it could be ten years earlier?
    45        A.  It could be.
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:  OK.  Can you close that file.  Thank you very much.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Put it on the side table please, Mr.
    50        Preston. 
    51        A.  OK. 
    52 
    53   MR. MORRIS:  Do you remember a lawsuit or a threatened legal
    54        action against the Bournemouth Advertiser for quoting a
    55        report in an article in the paper about the captive bolt
    56        pistol as you used or they said it was used by McDonald's
    57        suppliers for killing cattle, and that McDonald's
    58        threatened legal action unless an apology was printed?
    59        A.  I do not remember it, no.
    60