Hi,

I'm forwarding an e-mail to you...FYI

>From:  THots8421 <[log in to unmask]>
>Date:  Mon, 13 Apr 1998 20:03:15 EDT
>To:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject: veg-fl: MILK, rBGH and CANCER - 2 Reporters Fired from Florida's
Fox TV
>X-Orcpt: rfc822;[log in to unmask]
>
>MILK, rBGH and CANCER
>
>
>MILK, rBGH AND CANCER (from Rachel's electronic newsletter).
>
>Two veteran news reporters for Fox TV in Tampa, Florida have been fired
>for refusing to water down an investigative report on Monsanto's
>controversial milk hormone, rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone).
>Monsanto's rBGH is a genetically-engineered hormone sold to dairy
>farmers, who inject it into their cows every two weeks to increase milk
>production.  In recent years, evidence has accumulated indicating that
>rBGH may promote cancer in humans who drink milk from rBGH-treated
>cows.  It is the link between rBGH and cancer that Fox TV tried hardest
>to remove from the story.
>
>In the fall of 1996, award-winning reporters Steve Wilson and Jane Akre
>were hired by WTVT in Tampa to produce a series on rBGH in Florida
>milk.  After more than a year's work on the rBGH series, and three days
>before the series was scheduled to air starting February 24, 1997, Fox
>TV executives received the first of two letters from lawyers
>representing Monsanto saying that Monsanto would suffer "enormous
>damage" if the series ran.  WTVT had been advertising the series
>aggressively, but canceled it at the last moment.  Monsanto's second
>letter warned of "dire consequences" for Fox if the series aired as it
>stood. (How Monsanto knew what the series contained remains a mystery.)
>According to documents filed in Florida's Circuit Court (13th Circuit),
>Fox lawyers then tried to water down the series, offering to pay the two
>reporters if they would leave the station and keep mum about what Fox
>had done to their work.  The reporters refused Fox's offer, and on April
>2, 1998, filed their own lawsuit against WTVT.
>
>Steve Wilson has 26 years' experience as a working journalist and has
>won four Emmy awards for his investigative reporting.  His wife, Jane
>Akre, has been a reporter and news anchor for 20 years, and has won a
>prestigious Associated Press award for investigative reporting.
>
>The Wilson/Akre lawsuit charges that WTVT violated its license from the
>Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by demanding that the reporters
>include known falsehoods in their rBGH series. The reporters also charge
>that WTVT violated Florida's "whistle blower" law.   Many of the legal
>documents in the lawsuit -- including Monsanto's threatening letters
>- - --
>have been posted on the world wide web at
>http://www.foxbghsuit.com
>for all to see.
>
>
>