Fox News interviewed me a few weeks ago and aired this on Tuesday April 24.
This is part one, the second part will air on Thursday, but believe me the distortions and deceptions get even worse.
Due to a number of complaints we have received from primarily those that do not have high speed connections we have disabled autoplay on the video that has my commentary edited into the Fox broadcast.
All you need to do is click the play button on my video image on the right.
Once you view my video you are encouraged to view the documentary on Fox that I posted s few weeks ago.
Below is a transcript of the video for those who are unable to view videos.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: He's a doctor in the northwest suburbs, but known the world
over for his controversial prescriptions for better health. Dr. Joseph Mercola
is on the best-seller list. On YouTube, his unconventional bedside manner is
stirring debate. And I talked with the doctor.
They're essentially saying some of your claims are outrageous. Aren't they
now?
DR. MERCOLA: It's not outrageous; it's just not allowed.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: He answers critics and offers his views on prescription
drugs, raw food, and why he says we could be using the wrong cookware. The doctor
is in, when FOX News Chicago continues.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Now, I normally don't do TV interviews, especially with such controversial
networks as FOX. But considering that I had a pre-existing relationship with
the reporter and his wife, I thought I would at least get a fair report. But
was I surprised, as you'll see!
FOX NEWS REPORTER: ……. Schaumburg, hoping to change the way medicine
is practiced. He thinks he has the perfect prescription for better health, but
his advice is unconventional, non-traditional, and it's gotten him into trouble
with some of medicine's heavy hitters. His diagnosis for what ails us, in my
special report.
DR. MERCOLA: Your body has the intrinsic ability to get healthy by itself.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: "A modern-day, snake-oil salesman!", "A quack!"
Dr. Joseph Mercola has heard it all. It rolls like water off a duck's back.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Now, I was a bit surprised to hear him start the segment out by using
slanderous terms like, "quackery." Isn't it sad? It's even shocking
that someone who advocates simple lifestyle changes as an alternative to dangerous
medications and surgeries is categorized as a "quack"?
DR. MERCOLA: I don't think there's any justification to it. I mean, I have
critics all the time. I post videos on YouTube.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: That's right. A YouTube doctor.
[One of Dr. Mercola's educational videos playing in background]
FOX NEWS REPORTER: Nearly a hundred YouTube.com video clips. It's not the old-fashioned
bedside manner; it's the doctor coming straight to you via the internet.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Now, in this next clip, I want you to pay careful attention to the title
of the video that they chose to display from YouTube. Now, I have over a hundred
videos on YouTube, but they chose this specific one to deceive the viewers
of this report.
CLIP FROM ONE OF DR. MERCOLA'S VIDEOS, "How to Cut Your Risk of Cancer
in Half":
DR. MERCOLA: But this information cannot wait for a year to come out. I've
got to share it with you.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
That title was provocative, and it was "How to Cut Your Risk of Cancer
in Half." Now, they're going to use this later in the report to deceive
the viewers, and you'll see how. But they fail to tell the viewers that the
contents of this video has nothing to do with supplements. It simply explains
how people can go out and be exposed to sunshine and receive reduced risk
of cancer.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: And it's anything but a conventional prescription to health.
[quick clips playing from various Dr. Mercola educational videos]
DR. MERCOLA: "…… the more raw food you can eat, the better."
FOX NEWS REPORTER: Raw foods, like eggs, meat and unpasteurized milk. As for
medicine, ---
DR. MERCOLA: There are simpler, less expensive, less toxic options.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: A claim the pharmaceutical industry calls, "absurd."
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Now, this next clip was put in, I'm sure, so FOX could be [making air
quotes] "fair and balanced. However, I don't think that was why it was
in at all. I think they put it in for comic relief!
ALAN GOLDHAMMER, PHD, PHRMA, PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVE: We think
he under-represents, in a very marked way, the importance of the pharmaceutical
industry in providing therapies for patients that need them.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: Mercola is quick to fire back at the billion-dollar industry,
relishing his role as the self-proclaimed, alternative guru.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Now, I'm getting mad, because not only are they distorting the facts,
but they are lying! I never called myself a "guru" on my website
or in public or to this reporter. But many media publications have, such as
The LA Times and Time Magazine and a number of others. But it wasn't me.
DR. MERCOLA: The bulk of the healthcare problems that we have in this country
are primarily related to the pharmaceutical industry. We are spending more than
$2 trillion a year for healthcare in the United States, $2 trillion a year.
And I have no problem with spending the money if we were getting great results,
but we aren't.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Here's that YouTube clip again, and you'll see how the producer uses it
to set up a link to the viewers to make it appear that I am selling supplements
to prevent the risk of cancer and link it to this FDA letter I received. It's
nothing but distortions, deceptions and lies.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: The FDA sent him a warning letter last fall, challenging
his claim that some of his products, "inhibit cancer cell growth and lowers
blood pressure," calling them, in effect, unapproved drugs.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
There. You can see how the producer twisted the facts to have the viewers
believe that, that video was recommending supplements to lower the risk of
cancer, when it was recommending nothing more than simple sun exposure.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: They're essentially saying some of your claims are outrageous.
Aren't they now?
DR. MERCOLA: It's not outrageous. It's just not allowed, and the letters that
we received from the FDA are old letters, and the concerns and complaints addressed
in those letters have been addressed, and it's not occurring on our site anymore.
We're in total compliance with the FDA.
FOX NEWS REPORTER: "Not so," says the FDA. Mercola's case is still
an open investigation, and no one from the FDA will comment on an open case.
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Now, the distortions are so severe that I'm actually considering taking
legal action against FOX News. Why? Because they could read the letter from
the FDA carefully enough to seek to make a connection between supplements
I appear to be selling through my video and a statement that was made in the
letter. Yet, they couldn't read carefully enough to find out that everything
in that FDA letter has been addressed on my website. That is just simply,
pure negligence and libelous, in my viewpoint.
But why did I get the letter from the FDA to begin with? Well, you may
not know that the "drug cartel" has effectively manipulated the
Congress with the largest political lobby force in Washington, D.C., and they've
been able to give the FDA incredible regulatory power that prevents any company
from selling supplements and from telling you of any study that was done,
(even if it was a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind study at the
most prestigious universities in the world) that shows a health claim or health
benefit. If that company seeks to sell that and share that information with
you in the same site, on the same page, or in the same connection, they're
in violation of the FDA rules and regulations, and they will receive a letter.
If they continue to violate that, there are very serious consequences.
So, it's a manipulated system, and you just seek to do the best that you
can. But I've paid attorneys to vet this because it's a very complicated issue.
Unfortunately, the first legal firm I hired failed, and I had to hire a different
firm in Washington, D.C., and we've paid these attorneys $500 an hour. We've
paid them tens of thousands of dollars to make sure that we are in absolute
legal compliance with the FDA.
Well, that's all for now. But please be sure and stay tuned for Part 2
of this interview.