Peril of pig in a poke

By KENNETH HUGHES

Daily Mirror, 8 May 1979

It Shouldn't Happen to a Pig

BBC 2

AT last, democracy is coming to television. Tonight, you, the viewers, can pick up your phone or put pen to paper and have a chance to air your opinions.
   The revolutionary experiment is the brainchild of the Manchester-based "Brass Tacks" team.
  After tonight's programme in the new "Brass Tacks" series called "It Shouldn't Happen to a Pig" (BBC-2, 8.10 p.m.) viewers will be invited to give their views, either by phoning any local BBC radio station or by writing to the producers.
   Anyone with anything worthwhile to say will either be filmed or have their voices recorded for a special programme showing reactions from viewers and called "Return Call to Brass Tacks." This will go

out the following Monday on BBC-2 at 11.20 p.m.
   The debates could be quite heated. Subjects to be covered include health problems resulting from factory farming, the disastrous state of British football clubs and the case for legalising prostitution.
   Tonight's programme packs a few shock facts.
   The crowded rearing conditions of factory farming, it reports, lead to diseases among the animals.
   People eating meat from these animals could get salmonella poisoning, typhoid or meningitis.
   Despite this, experiments are taking place in the rearing of lambs in similar conditions. And hormones being used have shown a link with cancer.