How to work around an Internet Explorer bug?

[Gene]

I built a Cognos report that uses Javascript tags to switch between page tabs using the "Cognos Best Practices" methodology.

The final result looks fine in Firefox, but there is a problem with using IE 8 which shows table borders that "bleed" from the background into foreground.

The cross-hatch pattern is actually all the table/column/cell borders from a list in the 2nd tab.  What's interesting is that if subsequently I click on 2nd tab and then click on 1st tab, the border pattern disappears.

I tried playing with transparency & colors of blocks on left-most tab, but no effect.

The attached picture shows what the report looks like in IE8 when I run it. 

Can anybody suggest a solution which does not involve forcing my users to switch browsers (e.g. usng Javascript as a workaround)?

Thanks in advance,

Gene