BILL MOYERS RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL INDUSTRY ATTACK ON INVESTIGATIVE REPORT BASED ON CONFIDENTIAL INDUSTRY DOCUMENTS

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BILL MOYERS RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL INDUSTRY ATTACK ON INVESTIGATIVE REPORT BASED ON CONFIDENTIAL INDUSTRY DOCUMENTS

TRADE SECRETS premieres on PBS on March 26 from 9- 11 p.m.

TRADE SECRETS: A Moyers Report is a two-hour program that lays out an historical record of chemical industry behavior and devotes 30 minutes, 25% of the broadcast, to a panel discussion of issues such as what scientists know about the health effects of chemicals, how fully chemicals are tested before they come to market, worker safety and whether the public is fully informed about chemicals and their impact on personal health.

The portion of the program that lays out the historical record is based on the industry’s own words, preserved in black and white in confidential industry documents that the public was never supposed to see.

The panel discussion, which will be produced live-to-tape the afternoon of the program premiere, includes two representatives of the chemical industry, a representative of the public health sector, and a represen- tative of an environmental organization.

The chemical industry’s trade association, the American Chemistry Council, has begun a campaign to discredit TRADE SECRETS  before it is broadcast by attacking Bill Moyers’ professionalism as a journalist and the balance, accuracy and fairness of the program.

Following is a statement by Bill Moyers to industry attacks, as well as a Q & A rebuttal to issues the chemical industry has raised in the media:

Statement by Bill Moyers

"As usual, the chemical industry is misleading the American people and the press. The American Chemistry Council has known that we designed the broadcast to include industry representatives.  Weeks ago we even provided the industry with the very questions to be discussed on the broadcast.  When Terry Yosie, the industry spokesman, told me that the industry wants to address issues of worker and product safety and the benefits to society of chemicals, I agreed. Mr. Yosie won't tell you that, because Mr. Yosie is trying to defend the industry against the indefensible record in its own documents.

I consider myself in good company to be attacked by the industry that tried to smear Rachel Carson when she published Silent Spring. As its own documents reveal, this is the industry that kept from its workers the truth about what was making them sick; that opposes the right of citizens to know what is polluting their communities; that manipulated its own science to hide the hazards of chemicals; that spent millions of dollars to buy political influence, carve loopholes in environmental law, and create a regulatory system that it controls.  The people who watch TRADE SECRETS will decide for themselves who is guilty of malpractice."

Q & A about TRADE SECRETS

Q.      Why didn’t Bill Moyers interview representatives of the chemical industry for TRADE SECRETS?

·       He does include industry representatives, in a format that gives them an unedited opportunity to present their point of view. Half an hour, which is 25% of the program, is devoted to a discussion of issues raised by facts in the internal industry documents that are the focus of the first portion of the program.

·       This discussion provides equal time to chemical industry representatives as well as others with differing viewpoints representing the public health sector and environmental organizations.

·       In the discussion, the industry is invited to offer opinions on such issues as their assessment of the present state of regulation, the scientific basis for their confidence that chemicals absorbed by human beings have no health consequences in the short term or the long term, and their plans for the future to ensure that chemicals they manufacture pose no threat to the public.

Q.      Why weren’t industry representatives interviewed for the documentary portion of the program?

·       The documentary portion of this program lays out historical evidence about the chemical industry contained in their internal industry documents spanning a period of almost 50 years.

·       These internal industry documents are a fact. They exist. They are not a matter of opinion or a point of view. The documents state what the industry knew, when they knew it and what they decided to do.

·       In the documentary portion of the program, the chemical industry is represented by these documents, which describe the industry’s decisions -- in their own words in black and white and on paper -- about how they will behave.

·       The interviews in this portion of the program focus on determining if the information contained in the chemical industry’s documents was revealed at the time to company employees, governmental regulators, citizens concerned about environmental pollution, or the general public.

Q.      The chemical industry has stated TRADE SECRETS can not be balanced, accurate or fair because they were not given the opportunity to present their side of the story.

·       We have a different view. Regarding accuracy, every fact in TRADE SECRETS  has been scrupulously sourced. There is no question of accuracy in the presentation of the documents because we have made them available for all to see.  The viewer doesn’t have to wonder if excerpts from these internal documents were perhaps unfairly taken out of context during the program. The full text of every document referenced in TRADE SECRETS will be available for all to read on the TRADE SECRETS Web site on PBS.org. Nothing could be more fair.

·       The program is balanced in broadly framing the chemical industry. The program plainly states that chemicals have improved many aspects of our contemporary lifestyle. The documentary does not question the positive aspects of the chemical revolution of the last fifty years, and acknowledges them.

·       As the documents reveal, the chemical industry has invested millions of dollars trying to dominate public perception as well as the regulatory process. This program is making information available to the public that has been deliberately and consciously withheld. Attacking the journalism in TRADE SECRETS is a strategy to discredit the content so that their own viewpoint can dominate public perception.

Additional information on TRADE SECRETS is available on PBS PressRoom at pbs.org/pressroom.

Press Contacts:
Colby Kelly
Kelly & Salerno Communications
212-632-0156
Colby@kellysalerno.com

Karen Salerno
Kelly & Salerno Communications
212-632-0175
Karen@kellysalerno.com

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