Day 295 - 06 Nov 96 - Page 07
1 the European community. That is just the point I was going
2 to make about that.
3
4 On page 30 of these notes, the fourth reference down, he
5 admitted that chickens were fed antibiotics as a
6 preventative measure. We heard that from Dr. Pattison as
7 well, but that is no doubt a worldwide tendency, and
8 certainly in America. Obviously, effectively -- well, yes,
9 whatever.
10
11 Then if we go to page 32, the last reference, Dr. Pattison
12 gave evidence that he hoped to get salmonella incidents
13 down by improving hygiene at the plant. This is in the
14 chicken processing plant. So he is accepting the link
15 between hygiene and the increase in the salmonella burden
16 from 1 percent to 25 percent of chickens -- well, chicken
17 samples.
18
19 Then on page 33, Dr. Pattison, the second reference, gave
20 evidence that at the plant live vaccines are given to birds
21 in their drinking water, or by spray. I am not sure what
22 kill, what that means. Vaccines are injected into the
23 birds to counter disease. So if it is in their drinking
24 water, the point is that every chicken gets it, it is
25 routine.
26
27 Then he explained how furazoldone - this was the third
28 reference - antibiotic was banned in the US in 1991 and
29 later banned by Canada, Australia and Germany because of
30 concerns that it causes cancer in humans and it could get
31 through the food chains to humans, as we later heard. I
32 cannot remember exactly where we heard it, but we put it
33 in our pleadings, specifically that furazoldone has
34 recently been banned also in, I think, Denmark. So the
35 net is closing in on furazoldone, but it is still being
36 used -----
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which were the other two countries?
39
40 MR. MORRIS: The ones I have here are Canada, Australia and
41 Germany, and in the USA, and it is recently -- we have
42 pleaded in our formal pleadings that it has been banned in
43 Denmark, I think it is. I can check that. No, I cannot
44 find it. I did plead it and it was -- I can't remember,
45 I put it to somebody. Anyway, if those governments believe
46 it is a risk, then that only adds weight to our
47 consideration that it is a risk.
48
49 Moving along, page 36, of these notes. In terms of
50 conditions at work, Kevin Perret from the Bath store, a
51 manager since 1990, admitted there are complaints about
52 undercooked burgers and undercooked chicken products. And
53 I think we have to remember when we are looking at
54 complaints, I am sure anybody with any experience of
55 complaints systems is aware that only a small percentage of
56 people will complain about something. A small percentage
57 of people, first of all, might notice that something was
58 undercooked. Of that small percentage, a small percentage
59 of that might actually complain about it. Of the small
60 percentage that complain, there may be a small percentage
