Andrew Weil - Criticisms

Criticisms

Some have criticized Weil for promoting unverified beliefs. Weil's rejection of some aspects of evidence-based medicine and promotion of alternative medicine practices that are not verifiably efficacious has been criticized by noted physicians such as Arnold S. Relman in his 1998 article "A Trip to Stonesville: Some Notes on Andrew Weil". Weil has also promoted food products such as fruit and nut bars by combining his personal brand with Arran Stephens' Nature's Path brand.

Barry L. Beyerstein, PhD, Simon Fraser University, criticizes aspects of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), asserting that "As a major New Age industry, CAM shares the movement's magical world-view. On advocating emotional criteria for truth over criteria based on empirical data and logic, New Age medical gurus such as Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra have convinced many that 'anything goes,'" later stating that "By denigrating science, these detractors have enlarged the potential following for magical and pseudoscientific health product." Simon Singh echoes this criticism going as far as saying that while Weil promotes some good things like exercise and less smoking that "much of his advice is nonsense".

In a debate between Dr. Weil and Dr. Steven Knope of Tucson, Arizona, televised on public television affiliate KUAT-TV, Knope is critical of Weil for what he considers irresponsible advocacy of untested treatments by Weil.

Regarding his journalism for Time Magazine, The Center for Science in the Public Interest pointed out that in one Time magazine column by Weil, he touts the benefits of fish oil supplements. CSPI stated, "The column was sparked by a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that fish oil supplements did not reduce the risk of serious abnormal heart rhythms. The article failed to disclose that Dr. Weil sells his own brand of fish oil supplements on his website."

In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to a company associated with Weil (Weil Lifestyle LLC) as a package of urgent measures to protect consumers from products that, without approval or authorization by FDA, claimed to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, treat or cure H1N1 flu virus in people. Weil Lifestyle had made several implicit claims in its marketing literature that certain products could help ward off the virus.