Activists dispute ABC News report on organic food

By FRAZIER MOORE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (August 2, 2000 10:44 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - An environmental watchdog group urged ABC News to fire correspondent John Stossel, who in a report called organic food no safer than regular food and warned it could even be dangerous.

Stossel's report, first aired on the newsmagazine "20/20" in February, seemed in part to debunk the common belief that organic food is safer because no pesticides are used.

"Our tests surprisingly found no pesticide residue on the conventional samples or the organic," he said.

But the Washington-based Environmental Working Group charges that pesticide tests were never conducted for the show.

The group says it has complained to ABC News president David Westin as well as Stossel.

Even so, the report was repeated on a July 7 edition of "20/20." On that broadcast, Stossel reiterated his point in a comment to anchor Cynthia McFadden: "It's logical to worry about pesticide residues, but in our tests, we found none on either organic or regular produce."

Stossel has won a wide following on ABC with his contrarian approach to hot-button issues, taking on such things as government regulation and defendants who claim to be victims. The segment's producer, David Fitzpatrick, is traveling in Africa and unavailable for comment. The network said neither he nor Stossel would comment until the matter could be looked into.

"We're asking everyone involved to reserve comment until we've looked at the files and spoken directly to the producer," ABC News spokeswoman Sonya McNair said. "If a mistake has been made, we will correct it."

The group said scientists working for the show did test produce for bacteria, but not for pesticides. It said chicken was tested for pesticides, and traces were found on the regular poultry but not on the organic poultry. This finding favorable to the organic food proponents was not mentioned on the show, the group said.