Day 285 - 23 Oct 96 - Page 15

     
     1
     2   MR. MORRIS:   Yes.  That is because we bought them at the full
     3        price to ensure that the court had that information.
     4
     5        So the conclusion of this, what I would call the most
     6        fundamental part of the rainforest section of the case, is
     7        that the causal relationship between McDonald's and
     8        tropical forest destruction is established undeniably, and
     9        they are stuck with it as long as they continue to promote
    10        beef products globally, and any protection that McDonald's
    11        could offer to tropical forests with any policies -- we do
    12        not accept that they do offer any protection, we do not
    13        accept they necessarily even carry it out, let alone, or
    14        whatever -- or might be able to offer, is insignificant
    15        compared to the damage that they do by increasing the beef
    16        based fast food market globally, in particular in the USA
    17        and in western Europe.  Shall we have a break now?
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Five minutes, unless you want longer.
    20
                          (Short Adjournment)
    22
    23   MR. RAMPTON:   My Lord, there is one thing I might be able to
    24        help with.  Mr. Morris was speaking before the break about
    25        figures for beef production in Costa Rica and in the world
    26        at large.  I don't know if this is what he was referring
    27        to, but such figures do appear and were spoken about by
    28        Dr. Gonzalez in his statement.  His second supplementary
    29        statement at tab 4 in volume 11, 9.  Amongst the other
    30        documents behind that statement are the figures for Costa
    31        Rica for the whole country divided up into local use and
    32        export, and for McDonald's from 1980 to 1991.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Thank you.  Yes.
    35
    36   MR. MORRIS:   I do not think those figures actually dealt with
    37        the specific reference about the doubles.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you find any more let me know, but I have
    40        made a marginal note to have another look there.
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:   Right.  Now, if we look at McDonald's import and
    43        export policy.  What is the policy in terms of
    44        worldwide?   It seems to have a kind of vague...  I would
    45        not even call it a policy, about preference for using
    46        local products.  That is probably an economic
    47        consideration.  Dr. Gonzalez said that on day 68, page 6,
    48        line 26.  About policy for using local products.  But, as
    49        we heard, as Dr. Gonzalez went through a wide range of
    50        countries there is a huge movement of beef around the
    51        world for McDonald's use, both in finished form as patties
    52        and as loose raw, and there was a whole section on that, 
    53        I think.  I have got a reference here, day 68, page 10,
    54        line 9.  But I am sure there are 30 or 40 pages as we ran
    55        through all the countries.
    56
    57        I seem to remember it was quite a confusing picture, and
    58        quite rightly Dr. Gonzalez could not be expected to
    59        remember every example, and he was the person responsible
    60        for monitoring such movement of beef.  He had initiated