One Thousand Words

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Nesko and I were watching a run of shows on the National Geographic channel about peripheral vision and sleight of hand and how the brain functions. My breaking point came when a pair of identical twin women “interviewed” for a “job” to demonstrate a study. They were dressed the same, right down to heavy make up and very short skirts. I mean, this was supposed to emulate a job interview, and they looked like they were about to go clubbing. The moment also kind of bought into the “sexy twins” fantasy. They could have used one woman dressed differently each time. They were needlessly sexified. It was kind of a straw that broke the camel’s back moment, though.

Earlier, cheerleaders took their shirts off to demonstrate how when your eyes are tracking something moving you don’t pay attention to stuff in your peripheral vision.

Men were told to use their peripheral vision to pick the “hot” cheerleader out of a pair (one cheerleader was a man dressed in drag) because beauty totally isn’t subjective and it’s easy to discern hotness from a distance. And they were mocked for choosing the “ugly” cheerleader because all men have the same taste and all men prefer feminine looking women.

There’s a very real perception of SCIENCE! as a male field. Statistically it’s true, STEM fields are dominated by men, and women who study/work in them face a lot of explicit and implicit prejudice. There’s been a lot of talk recently about how more women can be encouraged to study STEM fields. Start ‘em young, some people say. Increase their access to STEM programs in high school, in grade school, in after school programs, in camps. Offer more mentoring to college students, say others. Make more STEM-themed toys and games advertised toward girls. Add more pink to the mix! Make videos showing women scientists wearing high heels and lipstick and sexy clothing!

One really easy way to change the perception of SCIENCE! as a boys club would be to strip the male gaze out of pop science productions.

Want to make a show about how the brain works? Get rid of the cheerleaders and the shirtless titillation and short skirts. Operate under the assumption that your audience will be made of both men AND women, in equal numbers. Science is really interesting! If you can’t sell how the brain works on its own merits, if you need sex to sell it, you are doing something VERY wrong.

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On the one hand, it’s foolish to say that a particular processed food will never be filled with poison that leads to sickness or death.

On the other hand, Dr. Oz is a fear-mongering jackass for stating that apple juice is full of deadly arsenic.

Because, generally speaking, it isn’t.

As the FDA stated in a letter to him:

September 9, 2011

Ms. Barbara Simon
Producer, The Dr. Oz Show

Mr. Terence Noonan
Supervising Producer, The Dr. Oz Show

VIA EMAIL and FAX

Ms. Simon:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is aware that EMSL Analytical, Inc. has obtained and tested 50 samples of retail apple juice for total arsenic content on behalf of Zoco Productions. It is our understanding that, based on these test results, you will assert during an upcoming episode of The Dr. Oz Show that apple juice is unsafe because of the amounts of total arsenic found in the samples.

We appreciate that you have made the results of these tests available to us. As we have previously advised you, the results from total arsenic tests CANNOT be used to determine whether a food is unsafe because of its arsenic content. We have explained to you that arsenic occurs naturally in many foods in both inorganic and organic forms and that only the inorganic forms of arsenic are toxic, depending on the amount. We have advised you that the test for total arsenic DOES NOT distinguish inorganic arsenic from organic arsenic.

The FDA has been aware of the potential for elevated levels of arsenic in fruit juices for many years and has been testing fruit juices for arsenic and other elemental contaminants as part of FDA’s toxic elements in foods program. The FDA typically tests juice samples for total arsenic first, because this test is rapid, accurate and cost effective. When total arsenic testing shows that a fruit juice sample has total arsenic in an amount greater than 23 parts per billion (ppb), we re-test the sample for its inorganic arsenic content. The vast majority of samples we have tested for total arsenic have less than 23 ppb. We consider the test results for inorganic arsenic on a case-by-case basis and take regulatory action as appropriate.

The analytical method for inorganic arsenic is much more complicated than the method for total arsenic. You can find the method that FDA uses to test for inorganic arsenic at this web address:

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ScienceResearch/LaboratoryMethods/ElementalAnalysisManualEAM/

ucm219640.htm1

The FDA believes that it would be irresponsible and misleading for The Dr. Oz Show to suggest that apple juice contains unsafe amounts of arsenic based solely on tests for total arsenic. Should The Dr. Oz Show choose to suggest that apple juice is unsafe because of the amounts of total arsenic found by EMSL Analytical, Inc.’s testing, the FDA will post this letter on its website.

Sincerely,

/S/
Don L. Zink, Ph.D.
Senior Science Advisor
U.S. Food and Administration
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

To sum up, the FDA told Dr. Oz:

• Your methodology is wrong
• We’ve told you that your methodology is wrong
• You don’t seem to understand basic science and chemistry
• You are being irresponsible and misleading
• We’re already monitoring apple juice for arsenic and other contaminants

Dr. Oz is a dangerous media presence, one that, like Dr. Phil, we can thank Oprah for. He pushes homeopathy (magic water), faith healing, spiritualism (literal talking to the dead), and other magical thinking that really… doesn’t work but is expensive.

CAM (complimentary and alternative medicine) and anti-vax folks talk shit about “Big Pharma” and how doctors and scientists and pharmacists are “only in it for the money.” Well, Dr. Oz and the people/products/services he’s pushing aren’t doing what they’re doing for free. Their snake oils and patent medicines, their tv shows, their books, they all rake in the dough and many of them are straight up harmful.

“Big Pharma” is the enemy not of “little people” or common citizens, but hucksters and anti-science proponents who see it getting in the way of them making a buck. The next time you hear someone yelling long and loud about some basic tenet of medicine or science being secretly bad for you, look closely at them and also what they are selling. How are they profiting by spreading fear? How are they preying on you? How are they manipulating you?

It’s easy to purposely mis-read test results and claim that a seemingly innocuous thing is going to OMG KILL THE CHILDREN! And it’s incredibly unethical, slimy, and gross to do so. Dr. Oz is a medical doctor, someone who once upon a time entered a field dedicated to saving and improving peoples’ lives. Now he peddles fear and dismay. That’s low. That’s really low. And it’s pretty depressing, too.

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