Health Alert: Dr. Oz Calls Apple Juice 'Dangerous,' FDA Disagrees
Stephanie Stahl reports...
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The safety of apple juice is under investigation, and now, a firestorm that's been created by Dr. Oz, who says it's dangerous, has resulted. 3 On Your Side Health Reporter Stephanie Stahl sorts it all out.
Dr. Oz says he did testing on popular brands of apple juice and found dangerous levels of arsenic. Federal health officials call the report irresponsible and say apple juice is safe.
On a recent Dr. Oz show, he said, "We have discovered that apple juice can contain arsenic. Yes, arsenic."
Dr. Oz's testing showed trace amounts of arsenic in many popular brands of apple juice.
On the show, he said, "We sent them to an independent lab for sophisticated state of the art testing."
But the FDA quickly fired back and called the Dr. Oz report irresponsible, and issued a statement that said, "There is no evidence of any public health risk from drinking these juices. And the FDA has been testing them for years."
"There are all different forms of arsenic, and there are different sources of arsenic," said Allison Muller, the Clinical Managing Director of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Poison Control Center.
She says arsenic is naturally present in water, food and air, and that there are two basic forms: organic, which can be safe, and inorganic arsenic, which is the type found in pesticides. Consuming high levels can be dangerous.
"If you measured the total level, then you need to break it up to inorganic and organic," said Muller.
That's the problem with Dr. Oz's report, according to many leading health experts. It only tested the total amount of arsenic.
"It's unfortunate that it turned into maybe a little bit of a scare unnecessarily," said Muller.
But Dr. Oz isn't backing down. He says 60 percent of American apple juice comes from concentrate imported from China, where arsenic isn't regulated.
And while he's found no cases of poisoning, he insists it's dangerous.
The FDA reviewed his data and calls it flawed. It says government testing continues to show apple juice is safe.
"I'm not unloading all the apple juice from my house," said Muller.
A statement from Dr. Oz says in part, "We don't think our show was irresponsible…The standards for arsenic need to be revised."
Reported by Stephanie Stahl, CBS3
