“The risk is too great”: Doctors call for Netflix to pull Pete Evans documentary
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is urging Netflix to pull a documentary narrated and produced by celebrity chef Pete Evans.
The controversial doco The Magic Pill is about the ketogenic diet and features several people claiming a diet rich in protein and fat but low in carbs can help relieve everything from epilepsy to autism to asthma.
The documentary came under fire when it was first released last year and is under scrutiny once again as the streaming giant added the show to its line up in May.
The AMA has asked Netflix to pull the doco saying the “risk of misinformation is too great”.
New AMA president Dr Tony Bartone said he’s worried “vulnerable members of society” — like people with cancer — might believe some of the doco’s claims over the advice of health professionals.
“All forms of media have to take a responsible attitude when trying to spread a message of wellness,” he told Fairfax.
“Netflix should do the responsible thing. They shouldn’t screen it. The risk of misinformation … is too great.”
He criticised Evans, saying he respected his “ability and expertise in the kitchen, but that’s where it begins and ends”.
“I would never dream of telling him how to prepare a meal. However, when it comes to the trusted health of our patients, everyone should turn to a health professional. That is, in the first instance, your GP.”
Evans quickly hit back at the AMA on social media, asking if the AMA was scared of people becoming healthy.
He wrote: “Is the bigger picture for the AMA that this simple approach may actually hurt the industries that rely on a large percentage of the population being sick?
“Perhaps the bigger question to ask would be, ‘is the head of the AMA fearful of people in Australia becoming healthy?’ What would this mean to their industry,” he continued.
“Does the head of the AMA believe that eating vegetables and fruit with a side of well sourced meat/seafood/eggs to be a dangerous way of life? If so can they please share the evidence that this way of eating is detrimental to the health of human beings.”
When the documentary was first released in August last year, medical professionals slammed the “science” in the program and called for it to be axed.
The AMA’s then-boss Dr Michael Gannon told The Courier Mail the film’s depiction of the high-fat, low-carb diet treating conditions such as autism, diabetes and cancer was “patently ridiculous” and “harmful”.