Time: 2:00 p.m
Date: 1/27/03
Location: Court room of Honorable Richard Siebel
Circuit Court of Cook County Illinois
Richard J. Daley Center
50 West Washington Street, Room 2305
Chicago, IL 60601

LOS ANGELES (VegSource.com) -- On Monday, January 13th, I met up in Chicago with esteemed vegetarian expert Professor T. Colin Campbell PhD [McSpotlight note: Prof Campbell was a defence expert witness in the UK McLibel case on the links between diet and cancer], and with vegetarian philanthropist Mark Epstein, to attend and speak at a hearing in the McDonald's allocation matter.

We've recently been covering this story on VegSource (see links below for past stories), but for those coming in late, McDonald's was sued for misrepresenting their French fries as vegetarian, and agreed to settle by donating $6 million to vegetarian non-profit organizations.

But instead of doing so, McDonald's is now trying to give much of the money to non-vegetarian groups -- some hostile to vegetarianism -- and to groups which don't have the geographic reach required by the settlement agreement. And they have the full complicity of most of the attorneys in the case who falsely claim to represent vegetarians.

Among the lies flying around the courtroom last Monday was one from copycat attorney Cory Fein, who told the judge that I had exhorted people on my website to come protest at the hearing, but that very few had shown up.

The truth is quite the opposite -- as sometimes seems to happen when Mr. Fein speaks. In fact, when I was asked by people prior to the hearing whether they should come too, I said no, that we didn't want a circus atmosphere but a sober presentation of our position. (Of course, if we had asked people to come, Mr. Fein's story probably would have been that I had attempted to disrupt the hearing; you know his type...)

After the hearing Mr. Fein was eager to speak to the press, some members of which were there as a result of my contacting them. Here are some excerpts:

Attorney Cory Fein, who helped come up with the list of groups splitting the $6 million, looked over the nearly empty courtroom and said the fact that only a handful of people showed up to protest the settlement was an indication that it was a good one.
(from "Foes Squabble Over McDonald's Settlement" by Eric Fidler, Associated Press)
and
"We are not being besieged by thousands of angry vegetarians," said Cory S. Fein, a Houston attorney who was in charge of investigating complaints about the groups scheduled to share in $6 million of the settlement.
(from "Scientist roasts McDonald's lawsuit deal" by Sandra Guy, Chicago Sun-Times)

Fortunately, vegetarians are in luck! The judge will be continuing the hearing on January 27th at 2 PM, so there's still time! Make your plans to attend the hearing in Chicago and speak up!

Coming to Chicago to Object Can Be Effective
In his quotes above, a smug Mr. Fein is telling vegetarians that the effective way to object to this sham proposal is not to merely to send in undisputed evidence in declarations from many of the most beloved, well-respected vegetarian leaders. (Perhaps he believes the judge would accept the word of non-vegetarian Corey Fein over people like John Robbins, Michael Klaper MD and John McDougall MD when it comes to deciding who is more expert about vegetarianism and the vegetarian community.)

Clearly Mr. Fein is saying the strongest thing objectors can do is to come to the court in person as "angry vegetarians."

And there's plenty in the proposal from McDonald's and the corrupt copycat attorneys to be angry about -- such as their attempt to give vegetarian settlement money to Dr. Stephen Zeisel, the notorious vivisector at the University of North Carolina who now apparently claims he is employed by a "vegetarian organization, dedicated to the values of vegetarianism" -- or at least he is, so long as he can get $250,000 of settlement money intended for vegetarian groups.

Dr. Zeisel has been quoted saying he will add the "vegetarian organization" money from McDonald's to the Egg Board money he's already gotten, to experiment on vegan women. He hopes to prove his hypothesis that vegan women need to eat eggs, dairy and perhaps beef liver while pregnant. (I expect McDonald's and the Egg Board would be willing to fund as many such studies as necessary to try to prove this bogus theory.)
McDonald's and the copycat lawyers are calling the following groups "vegetarian organizations, dedicated to the values of vegetarianism":

Tufts University Department of Nutrition (essentially "owned" by its food and pharmeceutical industry donors, and with a track record of being hostile to vegetarianism);

University of North Carolina (where a vivisector is slated for settlement money to fund a study which he believes will prove the vegetarian diet is dangerous);

American Dietetic Association (already heavily funded by McDonald's and the meat and dairy industry, and not a non-profit org, as required by settlement terms); and

Loma Linda University (a good outfit, but an organization dedicated to Jesus Christ, not vegetarianism, according to their own admissions).