Yesterday we told you about Dr. Oz and his episode that would reveal that apple juice contained arsenic levels that may be too high. The FDA has challenged his findings and this morning ABC News Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser went toe to toe with Dr. Oz telling him, “It reminds me of yelling fire in a movie theater.”
From ABCNews:
According to the “Dr. Oz Show,” a laboratory tested “three dozen samples from five different brands of apple juice across three American cities” and compared the levels of arsenic to the limits of arsenic for drinking water set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They found 10 samples of juice with arsenic levels higher than the limits for water.
In a statement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said, “There is no evidence of any public health risk from drinking these juices.”
The FDA sent a letter to the Oz show Sept. 9, five days before the show was to air, which warned that airing the show would be “irresponsible” and “misleading” because the testing ignored that there are two forms of arsenic: organic and inorganic. Organic is generally thought not to be harmful to health, whereas inorganic is.
The FDA also conducted its own tests of the apple juice investigated by the “Dr. Oz Show.” In some of the very same lots of juice tested for the show, the FDA reported finding very low levels of inorganic arsenic; 6 parts per billion at most, even lower than the 10 parts per billion recommended by the EPA as a safe level for drinking water.
