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To the CBC
Ombudsperson:
As
long time observers and commentators on the wildly exaggerated claims of the
anti-tobacco propaganda machine, we are able to easily recognize biased and
manipulative social engineering disguised as reporting. This is exactly what
The Fifth Estate has done in its recent episode.
The Fifth Estate's ''Denial
Machine'', on November 18th, actually inadvertently tipped the scales to the
side of the skeptic scientists on global warming. The tactics used to attempt
to portray these scientists to be as evil as Big Tobacco in order to add
weight to discrediting them, because they question global warming, only proves
the bias of the Fifth Estate piece. Hiding behind the guise of investigative
journalism, they blatantly defamed and smeared scientists because they
do not blindly and unconditionally follow the current politically correct
dogma masquerading as scientific consensus.
The Fifth Estate producers
may soon regret their apparent lack of journalistic integrity as the grossly
exaggerated claims of the ''anti-tobacco'' propaganda machine are now on the
front line of being debunked and discredited. More and more scientists and
research institutes such as Professor R. Nilsson (1), Dr. Enstrom (2), Dr.
Whelan (3), Dr. Arnett Jr. (4), The Fraser Institute (5), are speaking up
about the unethical, immoral and unscientific means that anti-tobacco
organizations have used to manufacture a supposed consensus against tobacco,
and more precisely environmental tobacco smoke. Will the same happen with
''global warming''?
The E.P.A. study that the
Fifth Estate referred to was completely discredited by Judge Osteen (6) in a
U.S. court of law, and also declared invalid and meaningless by the U.S.
Congressional Scientific Review Committee. Judge Osteen criticized the EPA
study as being seriously flawed, biased and based on "cherry picked" data.
Some are quick to point out that Judge Osteen's decision was "overturned"
without explaining that the case was disallowed because it should have been
heard in a lower court. Judge Osteen's findings and comments were not rendered
invalid by the technical dismissal of the hearing.
The Fifth Estate may also
want to investigate the McTear vs. Imperial Tobacco court case where
Judge Lord Nimmo Smith (7) of the British High Court found that there was
insufficient proof that the defendant's products caused Mr. McTear's lung
cancer, and that he in fact was not presented with any testimony that could be
accepted as proof that tobacco could cause any cancer. Judge Nimmo made these
findings after hearing testimony from many of the worlds leading anti tobacco
experts including Sir Richard Doll (the epidemiologist who first found a
possible link between smoking and lung cancer). Perhaps those cigarette
executives were telling the truth to congress after all.
We are able to provide many
other examples from the other side of the discussion that show the weakness
and lack of efficacy of the anti tobacco claims. True investigative
journalists would at the very least have made themselves and their audience
aware of these.
We are very disappointed in
the Fifth Estate's failure to present a balanced assessment of the available
facts in both the areas of tobacco and the environment. The Canadian public
deserves better than blatant partisanship from a program that once had a
reputation for fair and unbiased reporting.
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