RI Blood Center — Too Little Blood, Too Much Oz

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. All I meant to do here was to publicize the blood shortage, but I immediately bumped into the name of Dr. Oz, one of America’s most notorious scam artists, on the RIBC’s website. What is going on over there?

(Your blood is needed: We are in our third blood emergency.)

If I may speak to the RI Blood Center for a moment: I applaud the work you do but why on earth are you linking up with Dr. Oz?! He is a charlatan of the highest order, making millions by promoting specious supplements and junk medicine. He now craves political power running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat from Pennsylvania (where he does not live) so he can spew more of his crackpot “science” to the country from a position of authority.

Oz was among the medical experts to tout the benefits of hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug pushed by former President Donald Trump as a treatment for COVID-19, despite insufficient evidence. . . Oz has used his national platform to give credence to COVID-19 misinformation and fuel politicization of the pandemic.

Recommended reading for RIBC Senior Executive Director Beau Tompkins:

~The New Yorker: “Dr. Oz hopes to replace Rand Paul as the biggest quack in the Senate.”

~Business Insider: “Five quack treatments recommended by Dr. Oz that are totally bogus.”

~And in April of 2020, Frank Bruni wrote a piece in the New York Times: “The Unholy Alliance of Trump and Dr. Oz.”

The reporting on this goes back several years . . . everybody knows about Dr. Oz. Is this an attempt by Mr. Tompkins to reach a new, not-into-science demographic? Should we even encourage folks who are eating horse paste and hydroxychloroquine to donate their blood?

Having the RIBC sliding into the political realm is a terrible idea no matter the persuasion, but Dr. Oz is a dangerous quack and the RIBC is endangering its reputation as a scientific institution.

RI Blood Center, 405 Promenade Street, (directions), 401.453.8383

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