Dr. Mehmet Oz says he'll respond to allegations that he's ethically compromised in a special episode of his daytime talk show.
Oz's response comes after 10 physicians penned a much-publicized letter to Columbia University's dean of health sciences and medicine, demanding the cardiothoracic surgeon resign from his faculty position at the Ivy League school. The episode of "The Dr. Oz Show" will likely air Thursday, according to CNN.
In a statement posted on Facebook Friday, Oz, who's vice chair of the school's department of surgery, wrote that the perspectives he shares on his show don't "sit well with certain agendas which distort the facts."
"I bring the public information that will help them on their path to be their best selves. We provide multiple points of view, including mine which is offered without conflict of interest," Oz said.
I bring the public information that will help them on their path to be their best selves. We provide multiple points of...
Posted by Dr. Mehmet Oz on Friday, April 17, 2015
The letter accused Oz of an "egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain."
"Dr. Oz is guilty of either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgements about what constitutes appropriate medical treatments, or both," the letter said. "Whatever the nature of his pathology, members of the public are being misled and endangered, which makes Dr. Oz's presence on the faculty of a prestigious medical institution unacceptable."
The letter's signees include Dr. Henry Miller, of California's Stanford University, Dr. Joel Tepper, a cancer researcher from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and Dr. Gilbert Ross, of the American Council on Science and Health in New York City, according to the Associated Press.
Miller, the lead signee, has accused Oz of peddling "new age nonsense" and stoking unnecessary fear of genetically modified crops, such as the so-called Arctic apple.
CNN points out Miller once held a position with the FDA reviewing genetically engineered drugs. The FDA condemned Oz for a 2011 segment that presented apple juice as containing unsafe levels of arsenic. The FDA condemned the report as misleading and irresponsible but later proposed new guidelines for the compound.
This isn't the first time Oz has faced criticism over information presented on his show.
Last year, he admitted before a Senate panel on consumer protection that he'd used "flowery" language while discussing the supposed benefits of weight loss supplements. Chairman Claire McCaskill chastised Oz for a 2012 segment in which he described green coffee extract as a "magic weight loss cure for every body type." The authors of the study upon which the segment was based later retracted their research.
"I get that you do a lot of good on your show, but I don't get why you need to say this stuff because you know it's not true," McCaskill told Oz, according to AP. "The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of... products you called 'miracles.'"
Oz said he'd never endorsed specific supplements, or received money from the sale of supplements.
UPDATE, 4/21: In a preview clip for a special segment of his show airing Thursday, Oz vowed he "will not be silenced" and "will not give in" to a group of 10 doctors calling for his ouster at Columbia University: