After accusing Dr. Mehmet Oz of “fear mongering” for reporting that some brands of apple juice contained high levels of arsenic, ABC News’s senior health and medical editor, Dr. Richard Besser, was forced to concede last week that Oz was right.
In September, the The Dr. Oz show sparked a controversy when it told viewers that it had collected three-dozen samples from five different brands of apple juice in three US cities, sent them to an independent lab for testing, and found that ten contained levels of arsenic higher than 10 parts per billion, which is the Environmental Protection Agency’s allowable limit for drinking water (currently there is no limit for arsenic in apple juice).
Besser fired back immediately, challenging Oz’s assertions in a head-to-head segment on Good Morning America:
Mehmet, I’m very upset about this. I think that this was extremely irresponsible. Putting out this kind of health warning—manufacturing a health crisis based on faulty, incomplete data—this fear mongering, it reminds me of yelling fire in a movie theater. I’m very annoyed about this… You are telling parents that they are poisoning their children and you have absolutely no evidence that they’re doing that.
Besser chastised Oz for measuring total levels of arsenic without differentiating between the harmless, organic variety and the toxic, inorganic variety, and for sending his samples to only one lab without seeking confirmation from others. “No good scientist would ever do that kind of work,” Besser said.
In a second confrontation with Besser later the same day on ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer, Oz stressed that he wasn’t advising people to stop drinking apple juice and that his concern was not acute arsenic poisoning, which can cause a variety of problems from vomiting to death depending on the size of the dose, but rather chronic, low-level exposure, which can cause cancer, organ failure, circulatory and respiratory problems.
There is no federal limit for arsenic in apple juice, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a letter to Oz before his segment aired explaining that it has been testing fruit juices for arsenic, a naturally occurring element, for several years. It tests samples for total arsenic first, and when it finds an amount greater than 23 parts per billion (ppb), it re-tests the sample for its inorganic arsenic content. Its letter claimed that the “vast majority” of samples contained less than 23 ppb.
“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,” the letter read.
Shortly after Oz’s segment aired, the FDA released the preliminary results of six years of apple juice screening under its Toxic Elements program, posting test results for seventy samples, all of which showed negligible amounts of total arsenic. Toward the end of November, however, the agency acknowledged that it had withheld publication of test results for eight other samples, which were part of the same data set and had concentrations higher than 23 ppb, reaching as high as 45 ppb. At the same time, the FDA also released test results for an additional eighty-two new samples, bringing the total number of samples tested between 2005 and 2011 to a hundred and sixty. Of those, 12 percent exceeded the 10 ppb drinking water standard and 5 percent exceeded the 23 ppb “level of concern” for juices.
An even greater blow to the FDA’s reassurances soon followed. On November 30, Consumer Reports released the results of an investigation which tested eighty-eight samples of five brands of apple juice and grape juice purchased in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It found that 10 percent of the samples had total arsenic levels exceeding the federal drinking-water standard and, more importantly, that most of the arsenic was the harmful, inorganic variety. The investigation also found that 25 percent of the samples had lead levels higher than the FDA’s 5 ppb limit for bottled water.
I think the real story here is that a well known TV personality who passes himself off as a physician doesn’t know the difference between organic and inorganic arsenic and how differently the two impact health.
#1 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Tue 6 Dec 2011 at 01:11 PM
"I think the real story here is that a well known TV personality who passes himself off as a physician doesn’t know the difference between organic and inorganic arsenic and how differently the two impact health."
Possibly, yes, but more importantly, that the unconstitutional FDA is a worthless, racket-running, armed bureaucracy (a.k.a., "federal agency"), while private consumer agencies (which, unlike the govt monopolies, can not legally coerce you) actually are productive, helpful, and efficient.
#2 Posted by Dan A., CJR on Wed 7 Dec 2011 at 12:15 AM
so, Curtis, the reason why brands are not disclosed is what?
is this article or this story about the juice, the fda or the wizard of oz?
#3 Posted by Larry Darnell, CJR on Wed 7 Dec 2011 at 12:54 AM
I have a couple of questions after reading this:
1) has anyone tested apples to isolate the source of the chemicals? Is arsenic making its way into the juice through the fruit, the seeds, or some other source such as pesticides or fertilizer sprays that get ground up in the juice mix?
2) have test been done to show arsenic concentrations in apple matter over time?
3) are these brands of juice 100% or do they contain additives that might also be a source?
That Finding by consumer reports about the inorganic arsenic content is interesting.
#4 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Wed 7 Dec 2011 at 03:40 AM
First, you can't be right about something in science by using the wrong methods. That's no different to prophecy.
Second, this story doesn't make sense unless you actually work out the relative risk for drinking apple juice at a level exceeding the FDA standard. I don't know what that is, but I'm sure as hell not going to terrify the public with such a message until I do know.
Third, at least two scientists - both unaffiliated with industry - have raised significant concerns about the testing methodologies used by Consumer Reports for chemicals: specifically, one of the lead authors of the European Union's risk assessment for BPA said the magazine's data on the topic made no sense. When asked, on his behalf, for details of the testing protocols and raw data, the magazine refused and resorted to ad-hominem attacks to defend itself. I'm not saying Consumer Reports fudged its apple juice tests, but it should be transparent about how it did the tests and what it found.
Fourth, it might surprise CJR to note that the natural food industry regards Dr. Oz as the single most influential driver of natural food sales. Indeed, the trade press has already noted how his errors, in aggregate, help rather than hurt his business. Care to investigate one of Columbia's own?
#5 Posted by Trevor Butterworth, CJR on Thu 8 Dec 2011 at 10:30 AM
Larry, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Oz tested 5 brands:
1) Minute Maid: 2-3ppb
2) Apple & Eve: 3-11ppb
3) Motts: 4-16ppb
4) Juicy Juice: 2-22ppb
5) Gerber: 6-36ppb
Consumer Reports found 3 brands of apple juice and 2 brands of grape juice with at least one sample that exceeded 10ppb:
1) Apple & Eve
2) Great Value (Walmart)
3) Mott's
4) Walgreens, *grape juice
5) Welch's, *grape juice
The St. Petersburg Times, "tested two samples from each of eight national brands, plus two samples from a local company that supplies public schools throughout the Tampa Bay region.
"Samples from three brands — Motts, Apple & Eve Organics, and Walmart's Great Value label — contained between 25 and 35 ppb of arsenic, above the FDA's level of concern.
The brands Nestle's Juicy Juice, Minute Maid, Tree Top and Target's Market Pantry contained between 12 and 24 ppb. One sample of Walmart's juice contained no arsenic, and one Nestle's sample tested at nearly undetectable levels."
#6 Posted by Curtis Brainard, CJR on Thu 8 Dec 2011 at 11:37 AM
Thimbles, arsenic is naturally occurring in water, soil, and air, so it's present in trace amounts in a lot of foods, and even though we've banned lead-arsenate pesticides in the US, it lingers in soil from previous use. Also, we import a lot of juice concentrate from China where arsenical pesticides are still used and where arsenic is present in groundwater in some areas.
#7 Posted by Curtis Brainard, CJR on Thu 8 Dec 2011 at 11:47 AM
Trevor. Agreed, the actual risk from arsenic in apple juice needs to be assessed, and is probably pretty low. Besser did a good job emphasizing that point.
I'd like to read to the criticisms of CR's investigation that you mention. I did a quick search, but couldn't find anything. Got a link? Perhaps there were methodological problems, but a variety of investigations, including the FDA's own, have now found arsenic in apple juice.
#8 Posted by Curtis Brainard, CJR on Thu 8 Dec 2011 at 11:54 AM
"Thimbles, arsenic is naturally occurring in water, soil, and air, so it's present in trace amounts in a lot of foods, and even though we've banned lead-arsenate pesticides in the US, it lingers in soil from previous use. Also, we import a lot of juice concentrate from China where arsenical pesticides are still used and where arsenic is present in groundwater in some areas."
My question was more about where within the apple the arsenic appears. If it's within the seeds or the pesticides then it should be possible to eliminate through proper filtration or product alteration. If it's within the flesh of the apples, then it's a more complicated question of input purity (soil, air, and water) and apple type (which one will incorporate less arsenic given the same inputs) and apple trends (is the inorganic arsenic level increasing over time).
#9 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Thu 8 Dec 2011 at 01:12 PM