more mcdonalds news

[Guest guest]

This is an unusual bulletin. We don't normally use our newsletter for news

releases, but this is a one-time special case, and something we feel is of

importance to people in the vegetarian community.

 

For those interested or following the McDonald's lawsuit this is a quick update.

This is a suit filed by vegetarians who had received letters from McDonald's

stating their French fries were vegetarian, when in fact they weren't.

McDonald's apologized and agreed to make a $6 million donation to " vegetarian

organizations, dedicated to the values of vegetarianism " as part of the

settlement.

 

However, a number of the groups on the proposed McDonald's list are anything but

vegetarian, and include an animal experimenter at the University of North

Carolina who plans to use the " vegetarian organization " money to help fund a

study already being funded by the Egg Board. The researcher believes this study

will prove his hypothesis that a vegan diet is " dangerous " for pregnant women.

 

I attended and spoke at the first hearing, on January 13th, in Chicago. For

those who want to object in person at court, there is another hearing on January

27th at 2:00 pm. I encourage people who are interested in fairness to attend and

speak out

 

Details on how to attend the hearing:

http://www.vegsource.com/index.htm

 

Read a report on last Monday's hearing:

http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/mcdonalds_court_011303.htm

 

If interested, you can also read a recently filed declaration by one of the

lawyers in the case, detailing allegations that McDonald's and the attorneys who

were supposed to represent vegetarians instead colluded to subvert terms of the

settlement by giving the monies to non-vegetarian and anti-vegetarian groups

(pdf file):

http://www.vegsource.com/mcdonalds/BHARTI_DECLARATION_17Jan03.pdf

 

Even Freya Dinshah, of the American Vegan Society -- which stands to receive

$500,000 from the McDonald's allocation -- has risked McDonald's ire and taken a

stand against McDonald's mischief.  In our opinion, Freya is heroic and an

example to all of us, exemplifying what we aspire to be, people of ethics and

high moral standards.   Read her statement recently filed the court asking that

non-vegetarian groups be removed:

http://www.vegsource.com/mcdonalds/dinshah_declaration.pdf (pdf file)

 

Excerpt from article on VegSource:

 

T. Colin Campbell PhD paid his own money to fly to Chicago. He told the judge

that this settlement will " set back vegetarianism as a class for 10 to 20 years "

if it is approved. Dr. Campbell is well aware of the impact in the academic and

scientific community of awarding monies forvegetarian research to universities

which are hostile to vegetarianism.

 

Do you want an anti-vegetarian researcher to get research money, which the media

will later report on as a result of his being singled out by the court as

representing the best of vegetarian research? Do you want to read a headline

that could arise from this bogus settlement, like: " Scientist Specializing in

Vegetarian Research Says Vegetarian Diet Unsafe " ?

 

If not, you should consider traveling to Chicago to tell the judge in person. In

all fairness this settlement money should go to vegetarian MDs or researchers to

fund *actual* vegetarian research, or to *actual* vegetarian organizations, and

not be used to fund Egg Board studies or studies not supported by vegetarians.

 

Cheers,

Jeff Nelson