Smith, Jeff M
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ntbcw LEC GMU</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">jeff smith</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...T<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">he material for this series is drawn from my books </span><a href="http://www.geneticroulette.com/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Genetic Roulette</a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/Home/index.cfm" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Seeds of Deception</a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">, and my 18-minute online film </span><a href="http://www.seedsofdeception.com/GMFree/rBGHinDairyProducts/index.cfm" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Your Milk on Drugs—Just Say No!</a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></font></p><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also see <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/governor-sebelius-must-ve_b_183838" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Part 1</a>, and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fda-promotes-unsafe-milk_b_184886" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Part 2</a>.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Get Our Milk off Drugs, Part 3</font></strong></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I know from personal experience how satisfying it is to catch some nasty multinational corporation telling lies about the safety of their product—especially when that company is Monsanto, the world’s largest maker of genetically modified (GM) foods. So I could only imagine the excitement of investigative reporters Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, who had caught a Monsanto executive on film repeatedly lying about GM bovine growth hormone (rbGH or rbST). </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The two worked at WTVT, a Fox television station in Tampa, Florida, and were described as a “television dream team.” Akre was a former CNN anchorwoman and reporter, Wilson a three-time Emmy Award winner whom Penthouse described as “one of the most famous and feared journalists in America.” Their four-part news series on rbGH was scheduled to begin on February 24, 1997. It was going to expose Monsanto’s lies to the world, and show how the milk from treated cows was dangerously linked to cancer.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lies, Damn Lies, and Monsanto’s Lies</font></strong></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Monsanto’s dairy research director Bob Collier, PhD, was the rbGH front man who was interviewed by Jane Akre. Here is a sample of some of his claims.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Collier said, [rbGH] “is the single most-tested product in history.” The reporters, however, found that “experts in the field of domestic animal science say that this claim is demonstrably false.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked why rbGH had not been approved in Europe, he said the EU “approved it technically from a safety standpoint, but the dairy policy there was such that they still have price supports . . . it proved to be a moratorium based on market issues not health issues.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In reality, health was Europe’s <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">key </em>reason for banning the drug.</b> A December 1994 letter from the Vice President of the Agriculture Committee of the European Commission to the director of the FDA stated,</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 5px 0px 25px; padding: 15px 15px 15px 30px; border: none; line-height: 1.5em;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Consumers in the European Community and their representatives in the European Parliament are apparently much more concerned about the unresolved human health issues related to [rbGH] than your agency was when it authorized the product.”</font></p></blockquote></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When Akre asked Collier whether injections “rev up” the cows, he said the hormone “does not change the basal metabolic rate, it merely increases the amount of milk produced.” But his statement is contradicted even by Monsanto’s literature.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Injected cows also have much higher levels of udder infections, which put more pus in the milk. To treat this, farmers use more antibiotics, which also end up in the milk. But Collier claimed that increased levels of antibiotics in the milk weren’t a problem, since every truckload of milk is tested. But scientists and Florida dairy officials told the reporters that each truckload is only tested for penicillin-related antibiotics. There’s also a spot check for one other antibiotic every three months Such monitoring misses <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">most </em>of the more than 60 varieties of antibiotics used by dairy farmers.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Collier also made the wild claim, “We have not opposed” voluntary labeling of products as rbGH-free. In truth, Monsanto filed lawsuits against two small dairies to force them to stop labeling their milk as rbGH-free.</b> According to Rachel’s Environment and Health Weekly “The dairies folded and Monsanto then sent letters around to other dairy organizations announcing the outcome of the two lawsuits—in all likelihood, for purposes of intimidation.” Years later, as the trend towards rbGH-free milk started taking off, Monsanto asked the FDA and FTC to make such label claims illegal. When the feds turned down their request, Monsanto asked state governments to ban the labels.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At one point in the interview, Akre had had enough of Collier’s lies. She was not going to let him get away with it anymore. (Here is an excerpt from my book <em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="http://www.seedsofdeception.com/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Seeds of Deception</a></em>.)</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 5px 0px 25px; padding: 15px 15px 15px 30px; border: none; line-height: 1.5em;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Akre redirected the conversation to IGF-1, the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/governor-sebelius-must-ve_b_183838" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">growth hormone associated with cancer</a>. Akre recollected, “I asked about the limited testing for the effects of altered milk on humans. Collier tells me ‘because the concentration of IGF-1 . . . doesn’t change, there is no change in exposure, so the FDA concluded there is no indication that long-term chronic studies were justified.’”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now Akre was ready. She reached into a stack of papers on her lap—research she had collected and some of the five pounds of documents sent to her by Monsanto, which, she is sure, they didn’t expect her to read. </font></p></blockquote></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Akre pulled out an FDA report published in <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Science </em>1990, stating that Monsanto’s own studies clearly show an increase of IGF-1 in milk. Colliers, who was fidgeting, clearing his throat, and stammering, was clearly uncomfortable.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He reassured her that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Government Accounting Office also review the process for human safety and concluded that Monsanto’s test process was correct. But Akre was ready again: “I pull out an American Medical Association report that says further study is needed as to the effects of IGF-1 on humans.” She points out that the NIH also said more study is needed.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Collier then tried to claim that IGF-1 is destroyed during the process of digestion, but Akre had read the studies and knew that too was false.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Akre and Wilson wove Collier’s lies throughout their 4-part series, which made it clear that rbGH was a potentially <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">huge </em>public health danger. They were sure the program would have a big impact. They were right, but it wasn’t what they planned.</font></p></div><div id="inline-newsletter_placeholder" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Monsanto Threatens Fox</font></strong></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On the Friday before Monday’s air date, Monsanto’s lawyer faxed a letter to Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News in New York, claiming that the series was biased and unscientific. It threatened, “There is a lot at stake in what is going on in Florida, not only for Monsanto, but also for Fox News and its owner.” Rupert Murdoch, of course is the owner, and part of what was at stake was lots of Monsanto advertising dollars—for the Florida station, the entire Fox network, and <b>Murdoch’s Actmedia, a major advertising agency used by Monsanto. Fox pulled the series for “further review.”</b></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the Florida station’s general manager, who had a background in investigative reporting, meticulously vetted the show, he verified that every statement was accurate and unbiased. The station re-scheduled the series for the following week.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Monsanto’s attorney immediately sent another, more strongly worded letter to Ailes, this time indicating that the news story “could lead to serious damage to Monsanto and dire consequences for Fox News.” The airing was postponed indefinitely.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Florida station’s general manager and news manager were soon fired, and according to Wilson, the new general manager was a salesman with no news experience. </b>Wilson tried to convince him to run the rbGH story on its merits. He said Monsanto’s whole PR campaign was based on the false statement that milk from rbGH-treated cows is “the same safe wholesome product we’ve always known.” But even Monsanto’s own studies showed this to be a lie, and it could be endangering the public. Wilson recounted to me,</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 5px 0px 25px; padding: 15px 15px 15px 30px; border: none; line-height: 1.5em;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I tried to appeal to his basic sense of why this is news. He responded, ‘Don’t tell me what news is. We paid $2 billion for these television stations and the news is what we say it is. We’ll tell you what the news is.’”</font></p></blockquote></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to Wilson, the manager offered hush money to the two reporters. They would be paid the full amount of what was remaining in their contract, but they were free to go—essentially fired. But there was a catch. They were to agree never to talk about rbGH again—not for any other news organization.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wilson responded, “I’m never going to agree for any amount of money you offer me to gag myself from revealing in some other time and place what’s going on here.” Wilson told me,</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 5px 0px 25px; padding: 15px 15px 15px 30px; border: none; line-height: 1.5em;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“He looked at us with this blank stare like he’d never heard such a thing. And he said, ‘I <b>don’t get it. What’s with you people? I just want people who want to be on TV. . . . I’ve never met any people like you before.’ He just offered us 6 figures </b>and to him what we were being asked to do in exchange was no big deal. Why in the world would we turn it down? And lose a chance to continue to be on TV—as if that is such a big deal that one would sell one’s soul to continue to do it.”</font></p></blockquote></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The reporters offered to re-write the show to make it more palatable, but with each draft, Fox attorneys instructed them to make it more favorable to Monsanto. Over the next 6 months, they <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">re-wrote the script 83 times.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Akre and Wilson “were <a href="http://www.foxbghsuit.com/exhibit%20q.htm" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">repeatedly instructed</a> to include unverified and even some outright false statements by Monsanto’s dairy research director.” For example, they were told to include a statement that milk from rbGH-injected cows is the same and as safe as milk from untreated cows. The reporters said that management even threatened to fire them if the statement was not included. </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Akre told me, “We knew it was a lie. Monsanto’s own study showed it was a lie. Yet we were told to leave that statement in without refutation, even though we had contrary evidence. That’s falsifying the news.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When they showed the evidence to Fox’s lawyer that Monsanto’s claims were false, according to Wilson she replied, “You guys don’t get it—it isn’t about whether you have your facts right or whether it’s true. It’s the fact that we don’t want to put up $200,000 to go up against Monsanto.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox suspended the two for “insubordination,” then fired them altogether. </b></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TV News Goes to Court</font></strong></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Akre and Wilson sued the Fox station. They based their case on Florida whistle-blower laws, which protect employees from retaliation for reporting (or threatening to report) . to a government regulatory agency. employer misconduct, which violates any law, rule or regulation speaking out (or threatening to speak out) against their employer for breaking the law. The jury awarded Akre $425,000, agreeing that her dismissal was retaliation for her threat to tell the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the station’s plan to report false information on television.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fox appealed and the case was overturned. It turns out that lying on TV is not against the law.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The FCC’s policy against news distortion is a policy, not a “rule, law, or regulation,” so the Florida’s whistle-blower law did not apply. Furthermore, in a move certain to chill future whistleblowers, the court used the “Non-Prevailing Party Pays” provision of the state’s whistleblower protection act to<b> rule that Akre and Wilson pay nearly $200,000 of Fox’s legal fees. </b></span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The reporters have since been the recipients of numerous awards for their ethics and courage, including the Goldman environmental prize, considered the Nobel Prize for the environment. The Fox station eventually ran a neutered report on rbGH that contained Monsanto’s false statement that rbGH milk is unchanged. Fortunately, one of the earlier versions of the original Akre and Wilson series became public domain when it was used as an exhibit in their trial. With their blessing, I extracted footage from their excellent piece for my 18-minute film <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Your Milk on Drugs—Just Say No!</em>, which is available <a href="http://www.yourmilkondrugs.com/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">online</a> Also see <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/governor-sebelius-must-ve_b_183838" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Part 1</a>, and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fda-promotes-unsafe-milk_b_184886" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Part 2</a> of this series.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/TakeAction/GovernorSebilius/index.cfm?" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Email Governor Sebelius</a> before April 16, urging her to veto a bill that would require all national dairy brands that label their products as rbGH-free, to also place a false disclaimer, saying that there is no difference in milk from treated and non-treated cows.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><small style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Jeffrey M. Smith is the author of </span><a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/index/bookstore/item/seeds_of_deception/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/index/bookstore/item/genetic_roulette/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> distributed by <a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Chelsea Green Publishing</a>. Smith worked at a GMO detection laboratory, founded the Institute for Responsible Technology, and currently lives in Iowa—surrounded by genetically modified corn and soybeans. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Chelsea Green</a></span></small>.</font></p></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==
Genetic Literacy Project (GLP) has been accused of unethical
journalistic practices after it published personal information about
individuals opposed to <a href="http://ecowatch.com/news/food-agriculture/gmo-genetically-modified-organism/">genetically modified food</a> and changed the text of an article without the author’s permission.
</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GLP is an organization that heavily promotes genetic engineering of foods and attacks critics of the technology.</font>
<a href="http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/unethical_750.jpg"><span class="image-container alignnone size-full wp-image-376957" style="max-width:750px;max-height:416px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/05/genetic-literacy-project-crosses-ethical-line/
</font></span></a>
<strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posting Personal Information “Way Below” Ethical Line</font></strong>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">GLP has posted phone numbers, email and home addresses and other
personal information about GMO critics.</span> According to David Murphy,
executive director of <a href="http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/">Food Democracy Now</a>,
GLP posted the phone number and email and home addresses of Don Huber,
Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology at Purdue University. Murphy
contacted GLP asking them to remove the information, which they did, but
shortly after GLP posted Murphy’s cell phone number and home address.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s one thing to have a public disagreement with highly trained
scientists and activists on a controversial subject like GMO safety, but
publishing personal information, home addresses and cell phone numbers,
is a new low, even for <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=monsanto">Monsanto</a>’s
smear merchant,” Murphy said. “Does Monsanto really want us publishing
their CEO and top scientists like Robb Fraley’s home addresses? One
wonders what they really have to hide if they’re willing to employ such
slimeball tactics against their critics.”</font>
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GLP has also posted personal information about other GMO critics such
as Mike Adams, publisher of Natural News; Vani Hari, a.k.a. the Food
Babe; Henry Rowlands, publisher of Sustainable Pulse;<b> Jeffrey Smith,
executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology;</b> and
others. GLP even went so far as to post information about the value of
Smith’s house.</font></span>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carey Gillam, research director at U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) and a
former veteran senior journalist with Reuters news service, said the
practice of publishing personal identifying information such as phone
numbers and addresses, was clearly an unethical practice.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We here at USRTK are intentionally not posting the emails we’ve
obtained that include that kind of information because we think it is
below the ethical bar. Way below,” Gillam said.</font>
<strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crossed an Ethical Line</font></strong>
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In November, pro-GMO journalist Keith Kloor accused GLP of altering
his article, “The Story Behind the Story,” without his permission. The
article, which was posted on his website, <a href="http://www.keithkloor.com" target="_blank">www.keithkloor.com</a>,
focuses on science writer Brooke Borel’s Buzzfeed profile of University
of Florida scientist Kevin Folta, who was hosting a podcast using a
fake identity.</font></span>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GLP reposted a segment of Kloor’s article on their website with a
different headline, “Did Brooke Borel cross ethical line in criticizing
Kevin Folta GMO parody site?”</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Kloor objected to GLP’s posting the article without his permission
and changing the headline and text</b>. In a blog, Kloor wrote: “It’s bad
enough that a website built on the aggregated work of journalists takes
something that belongs to you without asking for permission. It’s
outrageous when the website truncates your text in ways that change the
meaning of what you wrote, which is also what Genetic Literacy is guilty
of doing with respect to my post. It’s infuriating and unforgivable
when the person who stole your text puts his own flatly wrong headline
above it … That’s crossing an ethical line.”</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On a personal note, GLP has also changed the headlines of articles
I’ve written that they’ve posted on their website. One headline they
changed contained text that was meant to be derogatory to me.</font>
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other authors also criticized GLP’s journalistic practices on
Twitter. These included Borel, Helena Bottemiller Evich, a journalist
with Politico, <b>Anastasia Bodnar,</b> policy director at the pro-GMO website <a href="http://www.biofortified.org/" target="_blank">Biofortified.org</a>
and Julie Kelly, a pro-GMO food writer, among others. The authors
objected to GLP changing the headlines and text of articles, listing
authors as GLP contributing writers when they aren’t and putting author
bylines with paraphrased articles.</font></span>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Twitter, GLP Executive Director Jon Entine tried to assure the
authors that GLP has been responsive “to every concern.” But Kloor
responded sarcastically to that claim, asking Entine if he really wrote
that “with a straight face.”</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">autobio</font></div><div><h2 style="line-height: 28px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jeffrey M. Smith Biography</font></h2><p style="line-height: 22px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The leading consumer advocate promoting healthier non-GMO choices, Jeffrey Smith's meticulous research documents how biotech companies continue to mislead legislators and safety officials to put the health of society at risk and the environment in peril. His work expertly summarizes why the safety assessments conducted by the FDA and regulators worldwide teeter on a foundation of outdated science and false assumptions, and why genetically engineered foods must urgently become our nation's top food safety priority.</font></p><p style="line-height: 22px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Smith’s feature-length documentary <em>Genetic Roulette — The Gamble of Our Lives</em> was awarded the 2012 Movie of the Year (Solari Report) and the Transformational Film of the Year (AwareGuide). Described as a “life-changer” and seen by millions world-wide, the film links genetically engineered food to toxic and allergic reactions, infertility, digestive disorders, and numerous problems that have been on the rise in the US population since genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were introduced.</font></p><p style="line-height: 22px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His books include: <em>Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating</em>, </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Deception-Government-Genetically-Engineered/dp/0972966587">http://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Deception-Government-Genetically-Engineered/dp/0972966587</a> Yesbooks iowa, distr by chelsea green</span></font></p><p style="line-height: 22px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">which is the world’s bestseller on GMOs; and <em>Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods</em>, which is the authoritative work on GMO health dangers.</font></p><p style="line-height: 22px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An admired keynote speaker , Mr. Smith has lectured in nearly 40 countries, counseled leaders from every continent, and has been quoted by hundreds of media outlets including: <em>The New York Times</em>,<em>Washington Post</em>, <em>BBC World Service</em>, <em>The Independent</em>, <em>Daily Telegraph</em>,<em> New Scientist</em>, <em>The Times (London)</em>, <em>Associated Press</em>, <em>Reuters News Service</em>, <em>LA Times,</em> and <em>Time Magazine</em>. Also a popular guest, he appears on influential radio shows and television programs, such as the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><em>BBC</em>, <em>NPR</em>, <em>Fox News</em>, <em>Democracy Now</em>, and the <em>Dr. Oz Show</em>.</span></font></p><p style="line-height: 22px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He is the founding executive director of The Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), a leading source of GMO health risk information for consumers, policy makers, and healthcare professionals. IRT’s educational programs are driving the tipping point of consumer rejection against GMOs, which is already starting to push genetically engineered ingredients out of the market in the US.</font></p><p style="line-height: 22px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Smith lives in Iowa, surrounded by genetically modified soybeans and corn.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div>