Monday, October 3, 2011

The FDA and Dr. Oz Face Off

Posted By on Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 12:30 PM

In case you haven't been watching TV's Dr. Oz pontificate about what foods are good and bad for you, here's an update on his latest health craze (no, you don't need to go buy a different label of Acai berry smoothie packs or start taking some weird herbal supplement).

After Dr. Oz broke startling news to his viewers that even their toddler staple, apple juice, was filled with arsenic, the FDA finally put an end to his shenanigans last week, slamming the TV doctor for not distinguishing between naturally occurring arsenic, which was at safe levels, and inorganic arsenic, the kind that can be dangerous.

A little digging shows the testing agency that Dr. Oz used, EMSL Analytical, Inc., seems to have perked their ears up about arsenic from an FDA release about chicken livers back in June. In the article, they then advertised their food testing services, at their own website www.foodtestinglab.com. What's curious is the lab's results show a single level for arsenic, even though they adknowledged there are two kinds in their previous news release about the chickens months ago.

Guess Dr. Oz got duped, as the FDA was peeved enough to release an update on their website, leveling the arsenic myth as a bunch of baloney.

So, fill up your sippy cups and celebrate! Apple juice is still go. But watch out for those cantaloupes.

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