266 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
266 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
McLibel Support Campaign
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5 Caledonian Road
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London N1 9DX UK
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Tel/Fax +44-171-713 1269
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A Year of Great McQuotes from the Witness Box
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McDonald's witnesses have often said ridiculous things in the
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witness box in a vain attempt to conceal the truth or justify the
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way McDonald's operates and the effect those operations have in
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this country and around the world. Here is just a small
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selection:
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NUTRITION AND ILL-HEALTH
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The Defendants asked Dr Sydney Arnott (McDonald's expert on
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cancer) his opinion of the following statement: "A diet high in
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fat, sugar, animal products and salt and low in fibre, vitamins
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and minerals is linked with cancer of the breast and bowel and
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heart disease". He replied: "If it is being directed to the
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public then I would say it is a very reasonable thing to say."
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The court was then informed that the statement was an extract from
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the London Greenpeace Factsheet. This section had been
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characterised by McDonald's lawyer at pre-trial hearings as the
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central and most "defamatory" allegation, which if proven would be
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the "kiss of death" for a fast-food company like McDonald's. On
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the strength of the supposed scientific complexities surrounding
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this issue the Defendants had been denied their right to a jury.
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David Green, Senior Vice-President of Marketing (USA), stated
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'McDonald's food is nutritious' and 'healthy'. When asked what
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the company meant by 'nutritious' he said: 'provides nutrients and
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can be a part of a healthy balanced diet'. He admitted this could
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also apply to a packet of sweets [candy]. When asked if Coca Cola
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is 'nutritious' he replied that it is 'providing water, and I
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think that is part of a balanced diet'. He agreed that by his
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definition Coke is nutritious.
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When asked to define 'junk food', Professor Wheelock (McDonald's
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consultant on nutrition) said it was 'whatever a person doesn't
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like' (in his case semolina). With disbelief mounting in the
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courtroom, Richard Rampton (McDonald's QC) intervened to say that
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McDonald's was not objecting to the description of their food as
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'junk food'!
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Peter Cox, (a Defence marketing expert) quoted from 'Behind the
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Arches', a book authorised by McDonald's in 1987, as evidence that
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McDonald's were engaged in 'a strategy of subversion' by trying to
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alter the dietary preferences of whole nations, 'very often for
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the worse'. The book states that, in Japan, McDonald's faced "a
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fundamental challenge of establishing beef as a common food".
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Their President, Den Fujita, said "the reason Japanese people are
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so short and have yellow skins is because they have eaten nothing
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but fish and rice for two thousand years"; "if we eat McDonald's
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hamburgers and potatoes for a thousand years we will become
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taller, our skin become white and our hair blonde".
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McDonald's began a major advertising campaign in the USA in 1987
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which aimed "to neutralise the junk food misconceptions about
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McDonald's good food". An internal company memo, reporting on a
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high level meeting in March 1986 with public relations advisors
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prior to the advertising campaign, was read out in court. It
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states "McDonald's should attempt to deflect the basic negative
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thrust of our critics.....How do we do this? By talking
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'moderation and balance'. We can't really address or defend
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nutrition. We don't sell nutrition and people don't come to
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McDonald's for nutrition".
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The Effects of Advertising
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Incredibly, Paul Preston (McDonald's UK President) claimed that
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the character Ronald McDonald is intended not to "sell food" to
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children, but to promote the "McDonald's experience". But an
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extract from the corporation's official and confidential
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'Operations Manual' was read out: "Ronald loves McDonald's and
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McDonald's food. And so do children, because they love Ronald.
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Remember, children exert a phenomenal influence when it comes to
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restaurant selection. This means you should do everything you can
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to appeal to children's love for Ronald and McDonald's."
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McDonald's annual advertising and promotions budget is $1.4
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billion. It was revealed in court that Geoffrey Guiliano, a
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Ronald McDonald actor in the 1980's, had quit and publicly
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apologised, stating "I brainwashed youngsters into doing wrong. I
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want to say sorry to children everywhere for selling out to
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concerns who make millions by murdering animals".
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The Effects of Packaging on the Environment
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McDonald's distributed 'McFact' cards nationwide for several years
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publicising a scheme to recycle polystyrene waste from stores in
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Nottingham, where customers were asked to put polystyrene
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packaging into a separate bin, "for recycling into such things as
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plant pots and coat hangers". Ed Oakley (Chief Purchasing Officer
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for McDonald's UK) admitted that the company had not recycled any
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of the waste and in fact the polystyrene was "dumped".
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Paul Preston, McDonald's UK President, said that if one million
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customers each bought a soft drink, he would not expect more than
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150 cups to end up as litter. Photographs were then put to him,
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showing 27 pieces of McDonald's litter in one stretch of pavement
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alone (the company has over 600 stores in the UK and serves over a
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million customers each day).
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In some countries the company has abandoned or limited the use of
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polystyrene packaging, in part because it is not biodegradable and
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takes up a lot of space in landfill sites. Ed Oakley (McDonald's
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UK) stated that there is "no landfill problem in the UK".
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Questioned as to whether he believes that "as long as there is
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room in the dumps, there is no problem with dumping lots of
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McDonald's waste in the ground?" Mr Oakley said "and everybody
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else's waste, yes, that is true". He said "I can see [the dumping
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of waste] to be a benefit, otherwise you will end up with lots of
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vast, empty gravel pits all over the country." Asked if he was
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"asserting it is an environmental benefit to dump waste in
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landfill sites" he stated "It could be"...."yes, it is certainly
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not a problem".
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Destruction of Rainforests
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Internal company documents, mistakenly disclosed to the
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Defendants, were read to the court in which McDonald's admitted
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the purchase in the UK in 1983/4 of beef imported from Brazil, a
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rainforest country. A letter from the McDonald's Corporation to a
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member of the public in the UK in 1982 stated "we can assure you
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that the only Brazilian beef used by McDonald's is that purchased
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by the six stores located in Brazil itself". Ed Oakley (Chief
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Purchasing Officer for McDonald's UK) denied that the purchase of
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Brazilian beef for use in the UK was in breach of McDonald's
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policy of not using beef which originated outside the European
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Union, saying "No, it was not. We still bought the hamburgers
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locally. We did not buy the ingredients locally".
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David Walker (the Chairman of McKey Foods, the sole supplier of
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McDonald's UK hamburgers) admitted that he had personally
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organised the direct import of the consignments of Brazilian beef
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for McDonald's UK stores in 1983/4. A letter from Mr Walker at
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the time was quoted in court. It revealed that the imports were a
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matter of great controversy. The letter stated that Prince
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Philip, the President of the World Wildlife Fund, had recently met
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George Cohon, President of McDonald's Canada, and had said: " 'So
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you are the people who are tearing down the Brazilian rainforests
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and breeding cattle' to which the reply was: 'I think you are
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mistaken', whereupon HRH said 'Rubbish' and stormed away".
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Following this, the letter stated that Fred Turner, the Chairman
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of the McDonald's Corporation, "issued a worldwide edict that no
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McDonald's plant was to use Brazilian beef". The same letter
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revealed that McDonald's UK had given Walker permission to use the
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Brazilian beef imports.
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McDonald's claim that they do not use beef from cattle reared on
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recently deforested land. However, in his statement (which has
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been read out during the Trial, Ray Cesca (Director of Global
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Purchasing of the McDonald's Corporation) admits that when they
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opened stores in Costa Rica in 1970, they were using beef from
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cattle raised on ex-rainforest land, deforested in the 1950's and
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1960's. In other words, some of it had been cleared less than 10
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years earlier. McDonald's own definition of 'recently deforested'
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is unclear and seems to fluctuate between 10 and 25 years or "from
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the time that we arrive...in a country" (Gomez Gonzales,
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International Meat Purchasing Manager of the McDonald's
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Corporation).
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McDonald's claim that they only use US-produced beef in the USA.
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However, during the Trial an extract from the TV documentary
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'Jungleburger' was shown, in which McDonald's beef suppliers in
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Costa Rica stated that they also supplied beef for use by
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McDonald's in the USA.
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Employees and Trade Unions
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Robert Beavers (Senior Vice-President of the US Corporation)
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agreed that in the early 70's, when trade unions were trying to
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organise in McDonald's in the US, the company set up a "flying
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squad" of experienced managers who were despatched to a store the
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same day that word came in of an attempt by workers to unionise
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it. Unions made no headway.
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Sid Nicholson, McDonald's UK Vice President, admitted that
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McDonald's set their starting rates for crew employees for most of
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the country "consistently either exactly the same as the minimum
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rates of pay set by the Wages Council or just a few pence over
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them". He agreed that for crew aged 21 or over the company
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"couldn't actually pay any lower wages without falling foul of the
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law". However, he said "I do not accept that McDonald's crew are
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low paid".
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Mr Nicholson said the company was not anti-union and all staff had
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a right to join one. Under questioning he admitted that any
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McDonald's workers interested in union membership "would not be
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allowed to collect subscriptions...put up notices...pass out any
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leaflets...to organise a meeting for staff to discuss conditions
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at the store on the premises...or to inform the union about
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conditions inside the stores" (which would be deemed 'Gross
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Misconduct' and as such a 'summary sackable offence'). In fact,
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Mr Nicholson agreed, "they would not be allowed to carry out any
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overt union activity on McDonald's premises".
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Jill Barnes, McDonald's UK Hygiene and Safety Officer, was
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challenged over a previously confidential internal report into the
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death by electrocution of Mark Hopkins in a Manchester store on
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October 12th 1992. It had catalogued a number of company failures
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and problems, and had made the damning conclusion: "Safety is not
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seen as being important at store level". In addition, a Health &
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Safety Executive report of 1992 concluded: "the application of
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McDonald's hustle policy [ie. getting staff to work at speed] in
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many restaurants was, in effect, putting the service of the
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customer before the safety of employees".
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Animal Welfare
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Dr Neville Gregory (McDonald's expert witness) said McDonald's egg
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suppliers keep chickens in battery cages, 5 chickens to a cage
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with less than the size of an A4 sheet of paper per bird and with
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no freedom of movement and no access to fresh air or sunshine. Ed
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Oakley of McDonald's said the company had thought about switching
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to free range eggs, but, not only are battery eggs "50% cheaper",
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but, he claimed "hens kept in batteries are better cared for". He
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said he thinks battery cages are "pretty comfortable"!
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Ed Oakley (Chief Purchasing Officer for McDonald's UK) claimed
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that the company "had a very real feeling that animals should be
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kept and slaughtered in the most humane way possible" and so had
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published an animal welfare statement two years ago. When
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questioned about this so-called policy Mr Oakley admitted that the
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"animal welfare policy is, in fact, just a policy to comply with
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the laws of the various countries in which McDonald's operate",
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and added "we do not go beyond what the law stipulates".
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Food Safety
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A UK 'McFact' card states: "every consignment of beef arriving at
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the [McKeys] meat plant is subject to a total of 36 quality
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control checks, carried out by a team of qualified technologists.
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If a consignment should fail on any one check, it will be rejected
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by McDonald's." All the raw beef consignments are
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microbiologically tested, and categorised as 'satisfactory',
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'passable', and 'unsatisfactory'. David Walker (Chairman of
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McKeys, the sole supplier of the company's UK hamburgers) stated
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that 'unsatisfactory' relates to beef which has a total colony of
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more than 10 million bacteria per gram. He then admitted that
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such consignments are, in fact, not rejected and are used for
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McDonald's burgers.
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McDonald's have refused to call their own expert witness on food
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poisoning, Colin Clarke, who prepared a detailed report following
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a visit he made to three company stores. The court heard that,
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regarding the cooking of hamburgers (which he had tested), Mr
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Clark in his statement "recommends that 73 deg C be the internal
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minimum temperature of the final product, and that their
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temperatures were not reaching that in all cases. The minimum
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was, in fact, 70 deg C."
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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U.S. McLibel Support Campaign Press Office
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PO Box 62 Phone/Fax 802-586-9628
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Craftsbury VT 05826-0062 Email dbriars@world.std.com
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