To: Lee Goldman, MD, Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine Chief Executive of Columbia University Medical Center

Support Dr. Oz - Label GMOs

I support Dr. Oz and labeling GMOs. Dr. Oz's position as faculty at Columbia University is being attacked by an "astroturf group" of 10 doctors. These are groups that appear to be grassroots groups representing real consumers, but, in fact they are the henchmen of industry here.

Why is this important?

The letter attacking Dr. Oz is not from the Columbia faculty. It's from ten physicians, all of whom have industry ties. What it's really about is that the industry is furious that he has taken on genetically modified crops. So you basically have industry henchmen who are after Dr. Oz here. One of them in fact, the head of the American Council on Science and Health, spent some time in federal prison for Medicaid fraud.

These groups are called "astroturf groups." That is, they appear to be grassroots groups representing real consumers, but, in fact, they are the henchmen of industry here, and that's what you're looking at with this letter. The media often gets swept up by this; they say, "this is a great story." They get swept up by it, they report it, but they don't look at who wrote that letter.