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. > > >