Day 002 - 29 Jun 94 - Page 24
1 McDonald's which they say they do, to find out if they
conform to this so-called "no imports policy" or "no ex
2 rainforest land policy", or whatever.
3 By the way, I should say that they have now admitted, as
Mr. Rampton said yesterday, when they started in 1970 they
4 were using beef reared on land as deforested within the
previous ten years, which contradicts their public
5 statements and legal letters they sent to solicitors. But
the point is they have lied about that which is one of the
6 fundamental planks of their policy. The other plank of
their policy is that they do not use imported beef in the
7 States. So, if they have lied about one thing, it is
quite reasonable for us to try to identify the documents
8 that could go towards the truth of the "no imported beef"
policy.
9
I am not just saying this to sound biased. I am saying
10 this to the court, to yourself especially, now because of
the counterclaim where McDonald's have said the criticisms
11 are lies. They are under an obligation to prove that they
are untrue, these claims. Therefore, the detail, I will
12 not go into it because it is not worth it, but the
detailed application we made for discovery, where we have
13 named documents, we have asked for minutes of corporate
meetings, we have asked for a full set of correspondence
14 rather than individual letters we have which were
unsatisfactory, which we disclosed, and the total
15 disclosure relevant to Coope Montecillos that have been
supplying McDonald's in Costa Rica since 1970, including
16 beef raised on ex rainforest land, is six pages.
17 They say they do not have any other documents relating to
the source, whether it comes from ex rainforest land or
18 whether they had correspondence with McDonald's
Corporation in the States about importation. So the point
19 I am making is six pages covering something that is at the
centre of one of the main points of the case which is the
20 destruction of the environment and the Coope Montecillos
meat factory is what we say is a cover up.
21
We are calling evidence from David Rose of admissions to
22 him by McDonald's about the use of ex rainforest land for
their beef supplies. We will be calling experts in this
23 case to talk about the destruction of the rainforest and
the beef industry. Our witness on the publication of this
24 leaflet which I mentioned before which is virtually
identical to the London Greenpeace leaflet -- that is
25 Patrick over there doing the video. He is our witness.
He has kindly come to help for a couple of weeks in the
26 case as a volunteer.
27 He was sent a letter by McDonald's Corporation instructing
him to apologise and pulp this leaflet because they
28 claimed in that letter that McDonald's had never used any
beef reared on any ex rainforest land. Mr. Rampton
29 yesterday admitted that that was not the case. So
Mr. Smith is going to be an important witness.
30
Just to say something else about discovery: We have
