It’s not the first time Dr. Mehmet Oz has been criticized for some of the bogus information and products he promotes on his daytime TV show, and likely won’t be the last. But with the recent letter to Columbia University from a group of physicians challenging his faculty position, he wants to fight back
He’ll be doing so in a full episode of his show, which is expected to air on Thursday.
In the letter, written on behalf of 10 doctors, it says:
“As described here and here, as well as in other publications, Dr. Oz has repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine, as well as baseless and relentless opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops. Worst of all, he has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.”
Oz’s credibility has been questionable for quite sometime. So much so he was grilled on Capitol Hill last June for pushing weight loss supplements that don’t have scientific evidence to back his claims that they are magical.
The fact that Oz has perhaps gone down a spiral of trying to make money instead of promote legitimate medical advice has been made even more clear with emails between the doctor and Sony that were recently released by Wikileaks, as Vox reported. The emails indicate that Oz and his staff from the show would like to partner up to promote Sony’s wearable devices on the show. But Sony apparently has its doubts because of all the anti-Oz press.
On Thursday’s show (assuming the date is solid), Oz is expected to primarily address the credibility of some of the authors of the letter who confronted Columbia. One of the issues, at least that Oz’s representatives have pointed out, according to CNN, is that some of the authors could have industry ties with genetically modified foods.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
We’ll wait for now to see what he has to say in the special episode. Here’s an informative clip on the issue from CNN’s Reliable Sources:
