Saturday, December 13, 2014

Promoter of Quack "Energy Medicine"

     Energy medicine (aka energy therapy, energy healing, spiritual healing) is a form of alternative medicine professing that a practitioner can channel healing energy into a patient. Recent reviews have concluded that there is no evidence supporting clinical efficacy. Furthermore, there is no valid theoretical basis for such healing.
    That has nevertheless discouraged otherwise notable spokesmen, such as Dr Mehmet Oz, from advocating this form of pseudo-medicine. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=8450292 . It is hardly his only attempt to misguide the populace.
     During a Senate hearing on consumer protection, Senator Claire McCaskill stated that by airing segments on ineffective weight loss products that Oz perpetuated scams. She, like us, was concerned that he was offering medical information in a way that harms consumers. Mary Engle of the Federal Trade Commission criticized Oz for calling green coffee extract "magic" and a "miracle", stating that it is difficult for consumers to listen to their inner voices when products are praised by hosts they trust. The FTC filed a complaint accusing promoter Applied Food Sciences of false advertisement.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/garcinia-probably-works-but-is-far-from-a-weight-loss-miracle/ 
     The James Randi Educational Foundation has awarded Oz with their Pigasus Award, an award intended "to expose parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds that Randi has noted over the previous year." Oz has been given this award on three separate occasions, more than any other recipient:
  • In 2009 for the promotion of energy therapies such as Reiki.
  • In 2010 for support of faith healing and psychic communication with the dead, among other controversial practices. Oz became the first person to receive a Pigasus Award two years in a row.
  • In 2012, Oz won "The Pigasus Award for Refusal to Face Reality" for his continued promotion of "quack medical practices, paranormal belief, and pseudoscience".
For further info on OZ and Energy Medicine check out posts on Science-Based Medicine such as http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/dr-oz-revisited/



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