I think if Dr. Oz was named Dr. Voldemort he’d have less of a following. Or at least people would be more suspicious of the “miracle” potions he endorses. This week Dr. Oz traveled to the less magical land of Washington D.C. to testify before the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance to defend himself against accusations of promoting quackery. It seems the wonderful Oz had been using “flowery” language to promote dietary supplements that promise more than they can scientifically deliver.
Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, the chairwoman of the subcommittee, did not seem to fall under Dr. Oz’s spell when she told Oz, “The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of the three products you called ‘miracles.’” Oz seemed to recognize that his larger than life cover had been blown when he promised to exercise “an abundance of caution in discussing promising research and products in the future….” Oz also reminded Sen. McCaskill that she could have left Missouri at any time if she had just clicked her heals together three times and repeatedly whispered, “There’s many places better than home, there’s many places better than home.”
So what’s the moral of Dr. Oz’s journey to Washington. Sometimes the allure of lucrative endorsement money has a way of turning a possible cure into a “miracle” cure. Likewise, the scrutiny of a senate subcommittee has a way of making a celebrity doctor look a lot like a senator swayed by the influence of big money lobbyists… I mean big money dietary supplement companies.
Anyway, Dr. Oz and the Senate will most likely not be affected by the temporary crossing of their paths. And no, I will not finish with a yellow brick road reference because everyone knows there’s not enough money in the transportation budget for anything but crumbling gray concrete.
Douglas Bursch is the author of Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It. He also hosts The Fairly Spiritual Show podcast.