14 DAY TRIAL // Dr. Oz appeared before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee the other day to be severely admonished for the part he’s playing in deceiving the public on the existence of the so-called “miracle” weight loss products, which has led to a genuine “crisis in consumer protection.”
Basically, the Senate panel, with chairwoman Sen. Claire McCaskill, accused Dr. Oz of using his platform to peddle fad diets and weight loss products that promise quick results with minimum effort, which, in the long run, translates into more weight gain because of the yo-yo effect.
Dr. Oz tried to defend himself saying that it was his duty to keep his audience informed, though he too admitted that he tended to get carried away at times and use “flowery” language that might overstate the facts.
Still, Sen. McCaskill grilled him like a hamburger, and TMZ seems to know why: because the attack on Dr. Oz was personal for the Senator. She too had a problem losing the extra weight, which she eventually managed to shift in 2011.
Presumably, until then, she too had fallen victim to the empty promises from various companies, so she knows what it’s like to have an authority like Dr. Oz praise a product and say it works wonders.
“McCaskill lost a ton of weight in 2011... actually more like 50 pounds [22.6 kg]. She did it the old fashion way – diet and exercise – and she was proud of it. We're told she thinks diet shortcuts are ineffective and often fraudulent,” TMZ reports.
She told Dr. Oz this much when she scolded him for having a huge platform and using it to spread lies and deceit by praising certain products and weight loss programs, instead of actually educating his audience on what really means leading a healthy lifestyle.
“When you feature a product on your show it creates what has become known as the ‘Dr. Oz Effect’ — dramatically boosting sales and driving scam artists to pop up overnight using false and deceptive ads to sell questionable products. I don’t get why you need to say this stuff because you know it’s not true. While I understand that your message is occasionally focused on basics like healthy eating and exercise, I am concerned that you are melding medical advice, news, and entertainment in a way that harms consumers,” she told him.
She took issue in particular with something called green coffee bean extract, which Dr. Oz went on the show praising (he even called it “miracle in a bottle”), only to be forced later to admit that he had spoken too soon, before he even had all the facts on the product.
For his part, Dr. Oz admitted to using hyperbole too many times and promised he would tone it down.