TV1 charge made to stick

A complaint against One News over a report on the dangers of non-stick cookware has been upheld by the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

The authority upheld complaints the report contained misleading and inaccurate statements.

The news item, which aired on January 28 this year, reported the Green Party's calls for an urgent review of non-stick cookware.

The story quoted the United States' Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as finding possible links between non-stick cookware, cancer and birth defects. A veterinarian was also interviewed, saying non-stick pans could kill household birds.

An aggrieved dealer of non-stick items, Viking Homewares, lodged the complaint, saying the broadcast was alarmist and inaccurate, and the vet's statements about the bird-harming properties of the pans were unfair.

The four-member authority panel ordered TVNZ to air a "clarifying statement", pay the complainant $927.50 for costs, and pay the Crown $2500.

TVNZ did not, however, have to say "non-stick is safe to use", just to clarify that the EPA was calling for a reduction in the use of a chemical present in the process of making things non-stick.

- NZPA