EOC: Week 3 Apple Juice Scandal

Apple Juice Arsenic Scandal: In 2011 Dr. Oz went on his television show in front of a national and a live audience and informed views that the apple juice they were giving to their children, contained arsenic. “Dr. Oz pinpointed which brands contained the most amounts of the chemical, and displayed his efforts to get in contact with the FDA.” – The Apple Juice Arsenic Scandal by Emma Koonse. The FDA stood behind the fact that there was nothing dangerous about apple juice, with this statement posted on their website “There is no evidence of any public health risk from drinking these juices, and FDA has been testing them for years.” They continued to argue that Dr. Oz did not differentiate between harmful and organic arsenic. Tim Sullivan a spokesperson for the show said “We did the tests. We stand by the results and we think the standards should be different.” The overall stance seemed to be that organic or not, certain levels of arsenic can be dangerous, especially in children. The spokesperson for the FDA Stephanie Yao said “We’re concerned that people are going to start thinking their juice is unsafe when that’s not the case.” Pediatrician Dr. Gordon then stated that children should only be drinking a certain amount of juice per day anyways due to its empty calories. He sided with the FDA over Dr. Oz on this one. I for one can say that as a child I could never drink apple juice without getting awful stomach aches, to the point where I was hunched over, on the ground and unable to have fun however apples never bothered me at all. Perhaps the doctor is right and people should in fact be concerned with what the FDA allows in our food.