Big Pharma vs. Dr. Oz
It seems that anyone that dares to wrinkle the feathers of the pharmaceutical industry with experience their wrath. The financial strength and seemingly impenetrable control they have over society is overwhelming. They simply have the power to bury anyone that opposes them (literally).
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the television show host made famous by Oprah Winfrey has undergone recent criticism by the medical community that is closely tied to the pharmaceutical industry. They have touted that the show dispenses unscientific medical advice mainly because it cuts into Big Pharma's profits. The television show has now hired a preventive medicine specialist, Michael Crupain, MD, from Consumer Reports magazine to head its medical unit and argue against such ridiculous claims.
Dr. Crupain directs the magazine's Food Safety and Sustainability Center, which has delved into such matters as safe-to-eat shrimp. He completed a residency in preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, and earned a Master's degree in public health there as well.
He also completed 2 years of a neurosurgery residency program before leaving to serve as the director of quality assurance and regulatory affairs of a biomaterials company called Endomedix for 2 years.
The medical unit soon to be under his command researches and approves scripts, evaluates guests, orders and edits medical animation, and works with a medical advisory board, according to a news release from the show. It quotes him as saying that he is "passionate about studying evidence-based and best-practice approaches to preventing disease." He will also "lead efforts to enhance the show's ongoing dialogue with the medical community," according to the news release.
Dr Oz's relationship with the medical community, or at least some segments of it, has been rocky during the past few months. In April, 10 physicians from across the country urged Columbia University in a letter to fire Dr Oz from his academic post there because, as they put it, he disdains evidence-based medicine and promotes "quack treatment" for financial gain. Funny that they don't think that dispensing meds is for anyone's 'financial gain'.
On his television show, Dr Oz characterized some of the letter writers as hired guns of companies such as Monsanto who promote genetically modified foods, which he wants labeled as such. Four of the 10 letter writers have connections to the American Council on Science and Health, which opposes mandatory labeling of genetically modified food. Surprise, surprise!
"Dr. Crupain will oversee the building of that bridge as a formal liaison," Oz said. Dr. Crupain said as much in an interview with Medscape Medical News. He described his hiring as "in some ways a reaction" to the recent controversy about the television show. "It's my job to address those issues," he said. "We've done that in the past. The show is looking to enhance that effort." He called The Dr Oz Show "one of the largest platforms out there for teaching people to lead healthier lives."