what's wrong with mcdonald?

PROMOTING UNHEALTHY FOODMcDonald’s promote their food as ‘nutri-tious’, but the reality is that it is junk food -high in fat, sugar and salt, and low in fibreand vitamins. A diet of this type is linkedwith a greater risk of heart disease,cancer, diabetes and other diseases.Their food also contains many chemicaladditives, some of which may cause ill-health, and hyperactivity in children. Don’tforget too that meat is the cause of themajority of food poisoning incidents. In1991 McDonald’s were responsible for anoutbreak of food poisoning in the UK, inwhich people suffered serious kidneyfailure. With modern intensive farmingmethods, other diseases - linked tochemical residues or unnatural practices -have become a danger to people too(such as BSE).

EXPLOITING WORKERSWorkers in the fast food industry are paidlow wages. McDonald’s do not payovertime rates even when employees workvery long hours. Pressure to keep profitshigh and wage costs low results inunderstaffing, so staff have to work harderand faster. As a consequence, accidents(particularly burns) are common. Themajority of employees are people who

have few job options and so are forced toaccept this exploitation, and they’recompelled to ‘smile’ too! Not surprisinglystaff turnover at McDonald’s is high,making it virtually impossible to unioniseand fight for a better deal, which suitsMcDonald’s who have always beenopposed to Unions.

ROBBING THE POORVast areas of land in poor countries areused for cash crops or for cattle ranching,or to grow grain to feed animals to beeaten in the West. This is at the expenseof local food needs. McDonald’s continu-ally promote meat products, encouragingpeople to eat meat more often, whichwastes more and more food resources. 7million tons of grain fed to livestockproduces only 1 million tons of meat andby-products. On a plant-based diet andwith land shared fairly, almost every regioncould be self-sufficient in food.

DAMAGING THE ENVIRONMENTForests throughout the world - vital for alllife - are being destroyed at an appallingrate by multinational companies.McDonald’s have at last been forced toadmit to using beef reared on ex-rainforestland, preventing its regeneration. Also,

What’s WrongWith

McDonald’s?

the use of farmland by multinationals andtheir suppliers forces local people tomove on to other areas and cut downfurther trees.McDonald’s are the world’s largest user ofbeef. Methane emitted by cattle rearedfor the beef industry is a major contributorto the ‘global warming’ crisis. Modernintensive agriculture is based on theheavy use of chemicals which are damag-ing to the environment.Every year McDonald’s use thousands oftons of unnecessary packaging, most ofwhich ends up littering our streets orpolluting the land buried in landfill sites.

MURDERING ANIMALSThe menus of the burger chains arebased on the torture and murder ofmillions of animals. Most are intensivelyfarmed, with no access to fresh air andsunshine, and no freedom of movement.Their deaths are barbaric - ‘humaneslaughter’ is a myth. We have the choiceto eat meat or not, but the billions ofanimals massacred for food each yearhave no choice at all.

CENSORSHIP and McLIBELCriticism of McDonald’s has come from ahuge number of people and organisationsover a wide range of issues. In the mid-1980’s, London Greenpeace drew to-gether many of those strands of criticismand called for an annual World Day ofAction against McDonald’s. This takesplace every year on 16th October, withpickets and demonstrations all over theworld.McDonald’s, who spend a fortune everyyear on advertising, are trying to silence

McDonald’s spend over $1.8 billion every year worldwide on advertising and promo-tions, trying to cultivate an image of being a ‘caring’ and ‘green’ company that is also afun place to eat. Children are lured in (dragging their parents behind them) with thepromise of toys and other gimmicks. But behind the smiling face of Ronald McDonaldlies the reality - McDonald’s only interest is money, making profits from whoever andwhatever they can, just like all multinational companies. McDonald’s Annual Reportstalk of ‘Global Domination’ - they aim to open more and more stores across the globe -but their continual worldwide expansion means more uniformity, less choice and theundermining of local communities.

world-wide criticism by threatening legalaction against those who speak out. Manyhave been forced to back down becausethey lacked the money to fight a case. ButHelen Steel and Dave Morris, two support-ers of London Greenpeace, defendedthemselves in a major UK High Court libeltrial. No legal aid is available so theyrepresented themselves. McDonald’sengaged in a huge cover up, refusing todisclose masses of relevant documents.Also, the defendants were denied their rightto a jury. Despite all the cards beingstacked against them, Helen and Daveturned the tables and exposed the truth byputting McDonald’s business practices ontrial. Protests against the $30 billion a yearfast-food giant continue to grow. It’s vital tostand up to intimidation and to defend freespeech.

WHAT YOU CAN DO - Together we canfight back against the institutions and thepeople in power who dominate our livesand our planet, and we can create a bettersociety without exploitation. Workers canand do organise together to fight for theirrights and dignity. People are increasinglyaware of the need to think seriously aboutthe food we and our children eat. People inpoor countries are organising themselvesto stand up to multinationals and bankswhich dominate the world’s economy.Environmental and animal rights protestsand campaigns are growing everywhere.Why not join in the struggle for a betterworld. Talk to friends and family, neigh-bours and workmates about these issues.Please copy and circulate this leaflet aswidely as you can.

Please send me more information I enclose $______ donation to the campaign

Name______________________ Address____________________________________

US McLibel Support Campaign, PO Box 62, Craftsbury, VT 05826-0062, USA.Tel 1-802-586-9628. E-mail and listserve: dbriars@world.std.com

Independent Internet info at http://www.mcspotlight.org/

LEAFLET your LOCAL McDONALD’S - leaflets $5 per 100, $12.50 PER 500, $15 PER 1000from US McLibel Support Campaign, details below.