Dr. Oz under fire for endorsing alternative views about health

Thursday, June 24, 2010 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: alternative health, Dr. Oz, health news

(NaturalNews) Dr. Oz, from the popular The Dr. Oz Show, is drawing attention from some in the mainstream media and medical establishment who are critical of his acceptance of certain alternative points of view pertaining to health. According to them, Dr. Oz is lending credence to ideas that are "unsupported by science".

More than three-and-a-half million people tune in to Dr. Oz's daily television show, and his columns are published in magazines like Esquire and Time. He has a large following that appreciate the time he gives to differing points of view about health, and the fact that he is actually a doctor himself.

But the mainstream establishment is upset because they claim that only their point of view is correct, and that Dr. Oz is deviating from "accepted" science. According to them, Dr. Oz is peddling dangerous ideas when he and his guests suggest things like investigating the safety of certain vaccines or trying alternative methods to treat disease.

Spokesmen for Dr. Oz responded to the allegations by emphasizing that the goal of Oz's work is to offer his audience a variety of information from different sources and points of view so that they can make up their own minds about an issue. His web site even prioritizes topics based on popularity, pushing unpopular ones towards the bottom and bringing popular ones to the top.

But some do not agree with this independent approach.

"Science is not a democracy where people's votes decide what is right," explained Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Look at the data, look at science and make a decision based on science that has been published."

Oz's critics think it is irresponsible of him to warn new parents about the potential dangers of the rotavirus vaccine, which can cause a rare intestinal disorder called intussusception. They claim that because the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization all recommend the vaccine, that Oz is out of line for even questioning.

Oz has also dared to give airtime to authors, books and protocols that recommend natural, dietary change approaches to treating autism. This is a major no-no because such treatments are allegedly "unproven". Yet an article about this very subject remains at the number two slot on Oz's web site, indicating that people are very interested in hearing these ideas.

Interestingly, Dr. Oz is not necessarily pro-alternative medicine in every category. He simply allows for differing ideas to be heard by his viewers. But to the establishment, this is crossing the line and unacceptable.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/mai...