ABC Forced to Apologize for Lying About Evidence on Organic Food

[Guest guest]

Wednesday, April 03, 2002 11:48 PM

ABC Forced to Apologize for Lying About Evidence

on Organic Food

 

 

- http://www.lauralee.com/news/abcapology.htm -

 

ABC Forced to Apologize for Lying About Evidence on Organic Food

ABC's world-renowned 20/20 reporter John Stossel apparently engaged

in numerous improprieties when it aired a special report on organic foods in

February and then aired again in July.

 

On this Friday's show, Mr. Stossel apologized for the " inaccurate

information " which included the following:

 

a.. Mr. Stossel maintained that tests commissioned by ABC News

found no evidence of pesticides on either conventional or organic foods. In

actuality, no tests had been done at all. ABC now admits that " no tests for

pesticides had been done on produce. "

 

b.. ABC squashed the results of a study that they commissioned,

which didn't give them the results they were looking for. These tests found

higher levels of pesticides in conventional chicken compared to " organic "

chicken.

 

c.. Mr. Stossel also made the misleading statement on the program

that higher levels of bacteria were found on organic produce than on

conventional produce. While this may be technically correct, the underlying

meaning in the assertion was that the higher bacteria levels were dangerous. In

reality, they only tested for a broad class of bacteria, not for pathogenic

bacteria that can make people sick.

 

In addition to the on-air apology, according to ABC, John Stossel

was " reprimanded " and a producer was suspended for one month without pay.

According to The Environmental Working Group, Stossel's reprimand is inadequate.

" That's not enough! Stossel lied and threatened an entire industry by

disseminating false and damaging information. He should be fired for violating

the most basic ethical standards of journalism " they maintain.

 

In an interview Stossel actually made the assertion that " buying

organic could kill you. " If find this too difficult to believe, the

Environmental Working Group has a copy of the video on their site, which can be

viewed for free.

 

The 20/20 report was heavily criticized by the Fairness and Accuracy

In Reporting group, a media watchdog group that is not affiliated in any way

with the organic food industry, as well as the Organic Trade Association, The

Environmental Working Group, and Citizens For Health. In light of this scandal,

several of these groups are now calling for John Stossel to be fired.

 

The Environmental Working Group said it had complained to ABC about

the original report's accuracy after it originally aired in February. Despite

this, Stossel repeated the mistake on July 7 in a comment made to anchorwoman

Cynthia McFadden: " It's logical to worry about pesticide residues, but in our

tests, we found none on either organic or regular produce. "

 

Additionally, after the environmentalists' original complaints, ABC

sent a form letter erroneously claiming that pesticide tests had been conducted

on produce, said Mike Casey, the group's spokesman. " They absolutely didn't take

this seriously, " he said.

 

The those who would like to voice their concern on the conduct of

ABC News and John Stossel, should send an e-mail to his boss or to John Stossel

himself.

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: I have had many patients ask me about the

original 20/20 report. It was quite surprising as generally ABC News is the best

traditional media for breaking the truth in medicine. However they really blew

it here. Consumer Reports is a far less biased media source and they have

reported several times on the validity of organic crops.

 

One of the biggest tragedies of this whole affair is that it

probably had a significant effect on the sale of organic food. This not only

negatively affected peoples health but also had a financial impact on a lot of

organic farmers. If you were one of those people who stopped buying organic

because of this report, then learn your lesson now, and in the future don't

believe everything you hear.

 

All of the groups mentioned above really kept on top of this issue.

If they hadn't followed up on it so well, this important information might never

have come to light. They should all be congratulated for their efforts.

 

Source of this article: www.mercola.com August 13, 2000 Newsletter

 

 

 

OOO

 

The LAURA LEE SHOW.

1997-2000 LL Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved.

Revised: April 11, 2001.

 

 

 

 

 

To learn more about the group, please visit

 

 

To to this group, simply send a blank e-mail message to:

-

To change status to digest: -digest

To change status to normal: -normal

You are receiving this email because you elected to .

To Post: