SAINT JOHN– Forestry giant JD Irving, Ltd. issued a sharply worded statement today attacking CBC New Brunswick over a story on the use of the herbicide glyphosate and an unexplained leave of absence by the province’s chief medical officer, who was said to be studying the herbicide.

JDI alleges that the CBC, “released a sensational story insinuating a connection between the sudden leave of absence of Dr. Eilish Cleary (New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health), a study of glyphosate, and two companies in New Brunswick. CBC presented an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory as fact.”

“CBC’s conduct is completely unprofessional and inappropriate,” said the company, one of two in the province to use the herbicide that the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of of the World Health Organization, classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in March of this year.

JDI is demanding that, “the CBC immediately remove the story from their website, publish a full retraction, and apologize for their appalling behavior.”

But the CBC isn’t backing down.

In a series of tweets with JDI spokesperson Mary Keith, the CBC’s Jacques Poitras said that,”…JDI was not an issue in the story. There was no allegation about JDI.”

His story quoted Bass River resident Ann Pohl, who exchanged correspondence on the glyphosate issue with Dr. Cleary. “I’m concerned there might be some corporate or political pressure put on [Cleary] for her to stand aside,” she told the CBC.

In a tweet to Keith, Poitras wrote that, “Ms. Pohl made no allegation or innuendo regarding your company that I could discern.”

After JDI released its statement, Poitras tweeted, “We stand by our story.”