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McDonalds spend a fortune on advertisements, trying to cultivate an image
of being a "caring" and "green'. company that is also a fun place to eat.
Children are lured in (dragging their parents behind them) with the promise of "free" toys and other gimmicks. But behind the
smiling face of Ronald McDonald lies the reality McDonald's only interest is money, making
profits from whoever and whatever they can.

Starving The Poor

While millions of people are starving, vast areas of land in poor
countries are used for cattle ranching
or to grow grain to feed animals to be eaten in the West. McDonald's
continually promote meat
products, encouraging people to eat meat more often, which wastes more and
more food resources.
145 million tons of grain fed to livestock produces only 21 million tons
of meat and by-products. On
a vegetarian diet Britain could easily be self-sufficient in food.


Destroying The Earth

The world's most beautiflil forests are being destroyed at an appalling
rate by multinational
companies. McDonald's have at last been forced to adrnit to using beef
reared on ex-raiforest land,
preventing the regeneration of forests. Also, the use of farmland by
multinationals and their suppliers
forces local people to move on to other areas and cut down further trees.
McDonald's is the world's
largest user of beef. Methane emitted by cattle reared for the beef
industry is a major cause of the
"global warming" crisis. Every year McDonald's use thousands of tons of
unnecessary packaging,
much of which ends up littering our streets or polluting the land buried
in landfill sites. 


Ruining Your Health

McDonald's promote their food as "healthy", but the reality is that it is
high in fat, sugar and salt, and
lowin fibre and vitamins. A diet of this type is linked with a greater
risk of heart disease, cancer,
diabetes and other diseases. Their food also contains many chemical
additives, some of which may
cause ill health, and hyperactivity in children. Don't forget too that
meat is the cause of the majority of
food poisoning incidents. In 1991 McDonald's were responsible for an
outbreak of food poisoning
in the UK, in which people suffered serious kidney failure.


Murdering Animals

The menus of the burger chains are based on the torture and murder of
millions of animals. Most are
intensively farmed, with no access to fresh air and sunshine, and no
freedom of movement. Their
deaths are barbaric - "humane slaughter" is a myth. We have the choice to
eat meat or not, but the
750 million animals massacred for food in Britain each year have no choice
at all.


Exploiting Their Staff

Workers in the burger chains are paid low wages. McDonald's do not pay
overtime rates even when
employees work very long hours. Pressure to keep profits high and wage
costs low results in
understaffmg, so staff have to work harder and faster and as a consequence
accidents, particularly
burns, are common. The majority of employees are people who have few job
options and so are
forced to accept this exploitation. Not surprisingly staff turnover at
McDonald's is high, making it
virtually impossible to unionise and fight for a better deal, which suits
McDonald's who have always
been opposed to Unions.


Censorship And McLibel

Criticism of McDonald's has come from a huge number of people and
organisations over a wide
number of issues. In the mid-eighties London Greenpeace drew together many
of those
strands of criticisrn and called for an annual World Day of Action against
McDonald's.
This still takes place every year on Octoher 16th, with pickets and
demonstrations all over
the world.

McDonald's, who spend over one billion dollars every year on advertising
and promotions, are trying
to silence the world-wide campaign by threatening legal action against
those who speak out. Many
have been forced to back down because they lacked the money to fight a
case.

But this year, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, two supporters of London
Greenpeace are defending
themselves in a major High Court libel trial. 

No legal aid is available so the unwaged environmentalists are
representing themselves. McDonald's
have engaged in a huge cover up, refusing to disclose masses of relevant
documents. Also, the
defendants have been denied their right to a jury after McDonald's argued
that the issues in the case
would be "too complex" for members of the public to understand. Despite
all the cards being
stacked against them, Helen and Dave are determined to expose the truth.
Protests against the $24
billion a year fast food giant continue. It's vital to stand up to
intimidation and to defend free speech.

                      What You Can Do

Together we can fight back against the institutions and the people in
power who dominate our lives
and our planet, and we can create a better society without exploitation.
Talk to friends and family,
neighbours and workrnates about these issues. Please copy and circulate
this leaflet as widely as you
can. Please Send me more information.



I enclose $ __________ donation to the campaign 

Name _________________ Address_____________________ _____________________

     McLibel Support Campaign (Australia), PO Box 558, South Brisbane
4101, Australia. 


http://www.envirolink.org/mcspotlight/