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Consumer Health Digest #14-38
October 12, 2014

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by Stephen Barrett, M.D., with help from William M. London, Ed.D. It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; news reports; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. If you enjoy this newsletter, please recommend it to your friends.

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"Dr. Oz" draws more criticism

Mehmet Oz, M.D., has been blasted again by two critics:

Benjamin Mazer, a third-year medical student at the University of Rochester, is trying to enlist medical associations to combat the potential negative impact on public health of what he calls Oz's "pseudo health advice." In a recent interview, he described widespread concern expressed by physicians about the harm they see happen day-to-day with their patients.
[Meet the medical student who wants to bring down Dr. Oz.
Vox, Oct 12, 2014]

Joe Schwarcz, who directs McGill University's Office for Science and Society, has debunked Oz's darmatic attack on an herbicide designed to kill weeds in corn and soy fields without harming the crops. [Schwarcz J.
Right Chemistry: We need rational discussion about pesticides, without rhetoric.
Montreal Gazette, Oct 11, 2014]
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Suit filed to block Israel fluoridation ban

Public health and dental experts who oppose Israel Health Minister Yael German's decision to prohibit fluoridation throughout the country have asked the High Court of Justice to overturn her order. The suit charged that German's decision will "cause harm to public health and significantly increase the gap in dental health between the well-off and the poor." [Siegel J. Health Minister taken to high court over prohibition of fluoridation of drinking water. Jerusalem Post, Oct 6, 2014] In 2002, when Israel passed a mandatory fluoridation law, German was Mayor of Herzliya. Shortly after the law's passage, she and others filed a lawsuit to block its implementation. The suit, which was opposed by the Ministry of Health that German now heads, was ultimately dismissed by the Israeli Supreme Court, which concluded that the Health Ministry had responsibility and that fluoridation was safe. The economic disparity was demonstrated by a study conducted in 2011/12 at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The researchers found that 12-year olds in fluoridated Haifa averaged about 30% fewer decayed, missing and filled teeth than those in non-fluoridated Kfar Saba and that the economically disadvantaged children in Kfar Saba had 26.7% more decay than those from the most affluent backgrounds.
[Israeli study shows significant narrowing of dental health inequalities in fluoridated Haifa.
Fluoridation News, Sept 2013]

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New Zealand court upholds fluoridation law

The New Zealand appellate court has rejected the anti-fluoridation group New Health New Zealand's claim that the chemicals used to fluoridate water are medications. The suit asserted that under New Zealand's Medicine Act of 1981, fluoride added to water is a medicine, which gives citizens a right to refuse "treatment" and mandatory fluoridation should therefore be illegal. The court reasoned that although fluoride is added to domestic water supplies for a therapeutic purpose and fluoridation could be considered a form of administration, the concentration in water reaching the user is far too low for the Act to apply. The plaintiffs have filed an appeal.
[Judgment of Collins J.
New Health New Zealand vs. the Minister of Health.
New Zealand High Court CIV-2014-485-004138, Oct 9, 2014]

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Supplement products associated with liver toxicity

The Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network has reported that about 15% of the cases that it studied involved herbal and dietary supplement products. The organization was established in 2003 to identify and study cases of drug-induced liver injury attributable to medications (excluding acetaminophen [APAP]) and supplements. The 130 patients with liver injury from supplements consisted of 45 (35%) who had taken bodybuilding products and 85 (65%) who had taken non-bodybuilding products. The report noted the problems attributable to bodybuilding products were relatively mild but severe outcomes (deaths and liver transplants) were more frequent among users non-bodybuilding products than among medication users. [Navarro VJ and others. Liver injury from herbals and dietary supplements in the U.S. Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network. Hepatology 60:1399-1408, 2014]

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Continuing request for help from Dr. Barrett

In June 2010, Doctor's Data, Inc. sued Dr. Barrett because it didn't like what he wrote about them on Quackwatch and in this newsletter. The events leading up to the suit are described at
http://www.quackwatch.org/14Legal/dd_suit.html
In November, 2011, about half of the allegations were dismissed, but discovery was permitted for more than a year. The rest of the suit is ripe for dismissal (the court is now considering another motion to dismiss), but the proceedings have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even small donations, if sent by enough subscribers to this newsletter, will be very helpful. Contributions to the defense fund can be made by mail or through
http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/donations.html
###

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=================================

Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
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[*/quote*]


Barrett is too lazy to give the urls of his sources. Here goes:

"Med student on a mission to combat Dr. Oz’s ‘medical quackery’"
October 3, 2014 4:25 pm by Dan Verel
http://medcitynews.com/2014/10/med-student-mission-combat-dr-ozs-medical-quackery/

"Meet the medical student who wants to bring down Dr. Oz"
Updated by Julia Belluz on October 2, 2014, 8:40 a.m. ET @juliaoftoronto julia.belluz[at]voxmedia.com
http://www.vox.com/2014/7/12/5891451/meet-the-medical-student-who-wants-to-bring-down-dr-oz-quackery

[Thymian]

Marke: 1000