Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Dr. Oz And FDA Dispute The Safety of Apple Juice



The short answers to this question, depending on who is answering, are either: “Yes!” or “Yeah, but no need for concern.”

The difference is at the center of a dispute that’s playing out today between federal regulators and the popular television medical expert Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The basics: “The Dr. Oz Show” plans to today air a segment about arsenic in juice. The premise is that that a study commissioned by the show found significant levels of arsenic in several store brands of apple juice. The show promo makes a case that parents should be “shocked.”

But the Food and Drug Administration has already launched a campaign to counter the show’s assertions. Officials have posted fact sheets about the safety of apple juice to the FDA Facebook page and Web site as well as letters [here and here] that a senior science advisor sent to the show’s producers disputing their analysis.

“We’re concerned that people are going to start thinking their juice is unsafe when that’s not case,” said Stephanie Yao, an FDA spokeswoman.



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