Dr. Mercola April 30 2007 51,108 views
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!
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"?
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dr. Mercola, A few words of encouragement if I may!
When you throw a rock in the dark and somebody screams you know you hit something!
You hit hard and they are screaming! I did some comparing once monitoring commercials on Fox compared to other networks and they have about 1 ½ times as many Pharma commercials as others! They are owned by "Big Pharma and the Bush Boys". (Good name for a trash-rock band, huh?) Oh, and by the way, I am a conservative! It’s moments like this that wake me up about who you can trust!
You did a great job and people know you are telling it like it is!
One quick word about Fox News. Does anyone remember when the group of investigative journalist put together a story about Monsanto and rBGH that was supposed to run in Florida? Well, the story did not run as planned for the simple reason that Monsanto’s lawyers felt it was too inflammatory eventhough their story was backed by facts. The journalists were fired/ quit and not given whistleblower status. So much for fair and balanced… Dr. Mercola, you are quite a thorn in the side of Monsanto (a very large advertiser on Fox) or any other company involved in the GMO food industry and anyone else that is trying to poison us. KEEP IT UP!!!
Here is a condensed version of my email to Fox.Dear Fox News,
I have been fuming over the April 24th report you did on Dr. Mercola. Fair and balanced, not at all. If you would have truly investigated Dr. Mercola’s web site and the information he offers in regards to eating right, exercise and healthy methods to get your body to avoid deadly diseases, this report would have had much more to offer than slanderous spin. Shame on you! I am a Breast Cancer survivor and I used to take various medicines for my heart, diabetes and osteoporosis which made me sicker the longer I took them. After researching and using Dr. Mercola views and other doctors like him who teach you how give your body what it needs to be healthy and reverse the damage you’ve done rather than poisoning your body with drugs that stop it from functioning as it is originally designed, I have become healthy, drug and cancer free. No wonder the drug companies don’t like that kind of talk. They just lost a lot of money since I became healthy.
I worked for 10 years in allopathic medicine but left and went into complementary health therapies after I saw what they did for me. Now I’m doing for others and seeing their transformation as well. There is no “magic bullet” or pill that cures disease and Dr. Mercola is the first one to advocate that. Give your body nutrition, the adequate rest and exercise it needs, stay away from processed foods and toxic chemicals and your body will be a mean disease fighting machine…that’s what it is designed to do.
Take a look at statistics, people are spending their money on healthy options because they are literally sick of drugs and unhealthy foods. They are becoming informed…unlike Fox News.
Yours Truly,
Michele