'The Dr. Oz Show' advisory board had people with no medical training who promoted fake treatments, Democratic group says

Republican candidate for US Senate representing Pennsylvania and former talk show host Mehmet Oz relied on a medical advisory board to back up his claims.

A Democratic group told Insider that the board included people who had no formal medical training and promoted discredited treatments.

The 43-member board projected a "ura of legitimacy" on Oz and his show, which was canceled last December after Oz decided to run for office.

In support of John Fetterman, Abella helped organize an event called " Real Doctors Against Oz".

He said that the treatments were dangerous.

One of the board members listed for the show was a self-proclaimed "medicine hunter" who promotes the use of hallucinogens to achieve health and another who sells herbal remedies to fight carbon dioxide.

The Medical Advisory Board sounds very authentic and rigorous, but not many people will take the time to peel back the layers of the onion and ask where the people are. The person told Insider. What are their qualifications? How did they do that? Maybe they should ask what their financial conflicts are with some of these products.

Abella said that some of the alternative treatments promoted by the advisory board may not be harmful.

He said that others rely on flimsy or non-peer-reviewed science that may distract or prevent a patient from seeking legitimate medical treatment.

Oz is running for a seat in the Senate. The Oz campaign has faced controversy over whether he lives in the state or not, as well as a huge fine for hiring illegal immigrants.

In April, a group of ten physicians at Columbia University, where Oz was a lecturer on campus, wrote a letter to university officials, saying they were "dismayed" that Oz was on the school's faculty.

CNN accused Oz of showing an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain and that he demonstrates in his show either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgments about what constitutes appropriate medical treatments.

The Senate candidate was no longer associated with Columbia University Medical Center.

David Bergstein, a spokesman for the democratic senatorial campaign committee, told Insider that Mehmet Oz is a self-serving fraud who got rich as a TV scam artist. Pennsylvania will reject him in November because he doesn't care about anyone but himself.

The Oz campaign did not respond right away.