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The makers of consumer affairs programme Target have been ordered to broadcast an apology and pay the Crown $4000 after being found guilty of airing a misleading and alarmist episode on formaldehyde in clothing.
Target sparked a national outcry and a government probe in August 2007 when it broadcast a programme which said testing had found dangerous levels of formaldehyde in children's clothing, with some test showing levels up to 900 times the safe limit.
However, it later emerged Target used the wrong test - testing clothing for total formaldehyde content rather than for unbound "free" formaldehyde - the amount of the chemical that easily comes loose from the garment and is potentially dangerous.
Target used the results from the total formaldehyde tests and compared them against standards for free formaldehyde.
Top Shelf, the production company for the TV3 programme, refused to apologise for the episode, saying it had raised customer and government awareness of the issue.
A complaint was made to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, saying the episode was inaccurate and misleading.
Complainant Raymond Gough also said the Target report was damaging to New Zealand's reputation as a reliable and trustworthy trading partner.
TV3 said the basic premise of the programme was accurate and there were only "minor glitches in an overall success story". The programme had raised awareness, and prompted the Ministry of Consumers Affairs to launch a probe into the issue.
The authority found that by measuring the total formaldehyde - levels of the chemical both unbound and bound in the clothing - against the standard for free formaldehyde, Target produced results that could not be validly compared to international limits.
It said the broadcaster could have located the international standards by doing its own research, and would have realised by making that comparison, the programme would mislead customers.
The authority upheld the complaint.
It said the broadcaster had failed to appreciate the seriousness with which the authority viewed the breach of broadcasting standards.
"This decision makes it clear that the programme was not an overall success; rather the entire story was based on inaccurate and invalid information and testing methods. The results in the programme were not only meaningless, but statements in the item would have unnecessarily alarmed viewers."
The authority ordered Target broadcast its decision, and pay $4000 to the Crown.
- NZPA
