Monday, Dec. 6, 2003

LOS ANGELES -- Vegetarians sued McDonald's for not disclosing that their vegetarian French fries actually contained beef. In response, McDonald's apologized and agreed to make a $6 million donation to non-profit vegetarian organizations. At least that's what McDonald's said and agreed in writing it would do.

Now McDonald's has filed a brief asking the judge in the matter not to hold them to their promise, but to instead allow them to give the money to non-vegetarian and anti-vegetarian organizations -- and to vegetarian organizations whose nutritionists recommend meat, chicken, fish and shrimp.

And in response to the many beloved bestselling vegetarian authors, medical doctors and leaders who have petitioned the court not to permit McDonald's to subvert the settlement agreement, McDonald's -- along with the lawyers supposedly representing vegetarians -- attack these esteemed individuals, telling the judge they are all disgruntledzealous radicals motivated by greed.

In our original article called Sleeping With the Enemy (reproduced below at the end of this article), VegSource previously covered this scandal in detail. In short, McDonald's -- with the support of the copycat plaintiff attorneys who were fired by their vegetarian clients -- is attempting to steer much of the settlement money they explicitly agreed would go to vegetarian organizations . . . dedicated to the values of vegetarianism -- instead to organizations which are hostile to vegetarianism.

The most recent developments show McDonald's and the copycat attorneys filing large briefs full of personal insults and name-calling against esteemed vegetarian leaders like John Robbins, Michael Klaper MD, John McDougall MD, T. Colin Campbell PhD, Alex Hershaft PhD, Mark Epstein, Joanne Stepaniak, Jack Norris, Matt Ball, Gene and Lorri Bauston, Stanley Sapon PhD and many others.

First McDonald's lied by saying their fries contained no beef, now they're trying to betray vegetarians a second time, by reneging on their promise to donate money to vegetarian groups. They argue to the court they should be able to give this money instead to non-vegetarian and even anti-vegetarian organizations, so long as those organizations merely promise to do vegetarian research with the money.

The only support in the vegetarian community that McDonald's and the copycat lawyers were able to present to the court comes from the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG). VRG submitted the only declaration in support of the proposal, even endorsing the money earmarked to go to the anti-vegetarian animal researcher at University of North Carolina -- a researcher who seeks to prove his personal hypothesis that the vegan diet is very unsafe for pregnant women, who need to eat eggs when pregnant in order to get sufficient choline. (This is the same animal researcher who usually does research supported by the Egg Board -- who VRG supports.)

Elie Wiesel is often quoted as saying, Take sides, neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Another oft' repeated line is: Silence is consent. Unfortunately, the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) -- which stands to receive $1 million if this corrupt McDonald's allocation goes through -- decided to remain silent and not use their special position in the matter to raise questions, or to educate the judge to help prevent a miscarriage of justice. NAVS is well aware that anti-vegetarian groups will benefit if this proposal goes through. I guess for some it's easier to look the other way when vegetarianism is getting mugged -- especially when the mugger is giving you a share.

It's one thing to claim to be an ethical vegetarian; but actions speak far louder than words. Let us hope that McDonald's and VRG -- as well as NAVS and any other organization with special position which chose silence over ethics -- do not succeed in deceiving the judge into approving this corrupt proposal.