COLUMBUS — In a unanimous decision, a panel of the Ohio Elections Commission found probable cause that radio advertising purchased by Washington, D.C.-based Food and Water Watch against Issue 2 contains false or misleading information and referred the case for a hearing before the full commission.
Probable cause hearing
The Commission panel, in a probable cause hearing, ruled in favor of a complaint filed by the Ohioans for Livestock Care Political Action Committee.
The panel said the ad, which falsely states that the H1N1 virus can be transmitted through food, had merit to be reviewed by the entire commission.
In the complaint, the Ohioans for Livestock Care Political Action Committee said that the ad’s “statement that food can be contaminated by swine flu (H1N1) is blatantly false included only for the purpose of inciting panic and emotion in listeners.”
No study
When asked by the panel, counsel for Food and Water Watch could not produce a single study showing that the virus could be transmitted through food.