Witness Statement - Shane Douglas

name: Douglas R.Shane

section: Environment

for: The Defence

experience: Consultant on tropical rain forest issues

summary:

We all have an obligation - a sacred responsibility - to act in a manner that reflects our common needs - not our uncommon differences. We need to develop, through education at all levels of society, a global consciousness that will govern our actions as responsible planet stewards and "future ancestors". Acrimony leads only to further disagreement, not solutions. Just as the purveyors of fast food in the United States are diversifying their offerings in non-beef items, the environmental movement needs to replace strident rhetoric with solid information and gentle persuasion. The future - or the lack of a future - belongs to everyone.

cv:

I have been involved with the issues pertaining to the development and conservation of the Earth's tropical rain forests since 1976, with particular emphasis on the humid tropics of Central and South America.

See 'Introduction' below for detailed account of experience and qualification.

Full cv:
Available for this witness

full statement:

Introduction

Between August of 1976 and April of 1978 I conducted a study of Latin America's tropical rain forests on behalf of Canada's National Museum of Natural Sciences in Ottawa, Ontario. In addition to research conducted in North America (Ottawa and Washington, D.C.), ten months were spent in thirteen Central and South America (Ottawa and Washington D.C.), ten months were spent in thirteen Central and South American countries with areas of tropical forest conducting interviews with government officials, scientists, and businessmen and inspecting project sites relevant to cattle ranching, agriculture, forestry, colonization, hydroelectric dams, and botanical and zoological research. The project report, A Latin American Dilemma, was issued internationally by the United States Agency for International Development.

Upon my return from Latin America in December 1977 I lived in Washington DC where I worked as a consultant on tropical rain forest issues. In addition to consulting for the World Wildlife Fund-US, the Humane Society of the United States, the United States Department of State, The Nature Conservancy, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the scientific branch of the World Wildlife Fund, the US Agency for International Development, and the National Wildlife Federation, I also began, in 1978, presenting a slide lecture on the ecology, development and conservation of rain forests to schools and universities, museum and nature centres, service organization and US government policy makers.

In 1979-80 I consulted with staff members of the US House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs which resulted in three hearings held throughout 1980. I testified at two of those sessions.

Also in 1979 - 80 I was contracted by the US Department of State's Office of Environmental Affairs to conduct a study of the beef cattle industry in tropical Latin America. The scope of this study included the causes and consequences of cattle ranching on the tropical forest biomes of Central and South America; consideration of the policies and assistance programs of various government, both indigenous and foreign; the activities of international funding institutions; the role of private sector interests; and the issue of beef exports and imports as they affect the countries involved. The report, entitled "Hoofprints On The Forest: Cattle Ranching and the Destruction of Latin American Tropical Forests", was accepted by the US Depeartment of State in March 1980 and was circulated internationally for decision makers and used widely by colleges and universitites. In 1986 a revised and updated version of the report was published under the same title by the institute for the Study of Human Issue, Philadelphia, PA.

My other publications include "Edging Toward Extinction", 1980, published by the Humane Society of the United States, and "Assault on Eden," a chapter in "Advances in Animal Welfare Sciences", Martinues Nojhoff Publishers, 1987. In addition to on-going consultation with media in the United States, I served as the Principal Editor of "Proceedings of the US Strategy Conference on Tropical Deforestation", US Department of State, 1978, and was a participant at the founding meeting of the Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco, CA, 1985.

Research On Beef Cattle Ranching

In researching the subject of beef cattle ranching in the tropical forest areas of Central and South America and exports, I visited sites throughout the region in 1977 and conducted extensive interviews in both Latin America and the United States between 1977 and 1986.

My work pertains to the relevant issues raised in this case, as I understand it, as follows:

When the initial interviews with representatives of the food industry in the US were conducted in 1979-1980, there was little awareness among those contacted of the impact that cattle ranching had on tropical forest ecosystems. Consequently, spokespersons for most brokerage houses, food processors and fast food chains responded, for the most part, in an unguarded manner. (By 1982-83, however, public awareness of tropical deforestation had substantially increased and food industry spokespersons were markedly guarded in the responses to queries.)

Thus, in my 1980 report I was able to determine, based on interviews, which companies admitted that they used some beef imported from tropical Latin America nations in their products. Among those verifying such use in 1979-1980 were Burger King and Jack In The Box. (A few years later, when concerned citizens and groups affected boycotts of these two companies, the companies first issued denials and threatened legal action, but when faced with the sources of information, which came from within the company, said they would discontinue using beef imported from Latin America.)

Some companies said that they used imported beef, but were unable to be specific about the countries of origin. (Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the European Economic Community are among those countries exporting beef to the US). For those US-based companies stating that they used no imported beef whatsoever, I interviewed, whenever possible, US government meat inspectors that were stationed in meat manufacturing plants that supplies the companies in question.

Identity of Beef

A problem arises with the question of whether a company is using imported beef because, under US law, once imported beef is cleared by the authorites, it loses its imported identity and gains the status of US graded beef. Thus, if the meat is purchased by a broker for resale, the next or final buyer only knows the US grade of the product and not necessarily the counrtry of origin. (Manufacturers directly purchasing meat from abroad, of course, are aware of the country of origin.) Efforts by some US environmentalists to have Congress enact a labelling law designating beef's country of origin have been unsuccessful to date.

In the case of McDonald's Corporation, the company has only maintained that their US franchises do not use any imported beef. (McDonald's has said that their franchises operating in tropical Latin American countries, such as Guatemala and Panama, do use beef form the countries in which they are located. (A spokesperson for McDonald's National Purchasing and Quality Assurance Department, responding to the suggestion that the company may unknowingly be using some imported beef, said: "McDonald's Corporation itself does not buy or sell any of the products used in McDonald's franchises."

An officer of the Equity Meat Corporation, which in the early 1980's supplied almost half of McDonald's beef in the US, responded to the question of whether some imported meat may be used unwittingly in McDonald's hamburgers by saying, "It would be difficult for imported beef mixed with US trimmings to be sold to a cautious manufacturer like Equity."

A US Department of Agriculture meat inspector who was stationed at Equity's facility near Philadephia, PA, in the late 1970's told me that imported beef from Australia and New Zealand - "Not much from elsewhere" - was used in the preparation of ground beef for distribution to McDonald's franchises. However, two USDA inspectors of ground beef at the same plant maintained that Equity had never used any imported beef.

Ongoing Controversy

The controversy surrounding the imported beef issue is on-going, with the fervor of environmentalists, however well-intentioned, clashing with the interests of the food industry and the public's demand for hamburgers. I have long believed that this issue is a "tempest in a teacup" which, unfortunately, obscures the larger social, economic, political and moral interests of the planet's tropical rain forests as a vital genetic reservoir and its myriad other benefits - both regionally and globally - has become better understood during the last decade, rain forest destruction has doubled in the same period.

We all have an obligation - a sacred responsibility - to act in a manner that reflects our common needs - not our uncommon differences. We need to develop, through education at all levels of society, a global consciousness that will govern our actions as responsible planet stewards and "future ancestors". Acrimony leads only to further disagreement, not solutions. Just as the purveyors of fast food in the United States are diversifying their offerings in non-beef items, the environmental movement needs to replace strident rhetoric with solid information and gentle persuasion. The future - or the lack of a future - belongs to everyone.

date signed: 24 July 1993

status: ?
references: Not applicable/ available

exhibits: Not applicable/ available

related links: