Famous Turkish-American doctor and television personality Mehmet Cengiz Öz, a.k.a. Dr. Oz, was recently grilled by Congress on Capitol Hill surrounding allegations that he was embroiled in possible weight loss scams.
Dr. Oz was scolded by Chairwoman Claire McCaskill, who leads a subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance. The group explored accusations that the 54-year-old’s television talk show, The Dr. Oz Show, was being used as a platform to peddle products that are not scientifically backed.
Oz said that he uses “flowery” language in his show in order to engage the audience, and that he has little control over scam artists twisting his words and using his image in ads. “I concede to my colleagues at the FTC that I am making their job more difficult,” he said.
McCaskill told Oz that she hopes that he’ll soon tout “the beauty of a walk at sunset” instead of pills for weight loss. “The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of a few products that you have called miracles,” she said. “I just don’t understand why you need to go there…. You are being made an example today because of the power you have in this space.”
Agencies/Canadajournal