UK health service chief slams Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘Goop’ treatments
A top UK health official has criticized Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop for promoting treatments that pose “considerable risks to health.”
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, singled out Goop during a speech in Oxford on Thursday about the rise of fake news relating to health.
Stevens targeted “dubious” wellness products and “dodgy procedures” available on the internet, saying misleading claims on the web had put misinformation “on steroids.”
Netflix this month released docuseries “The Goop Lab,” which centers on Paltrow’s lifestyle brand.
The show features Goop employees sampling a range of wellness treatments.
Citing the new series, Stevens said the brand peddles treatments such as colonic irrigation and DIY coffee enemas, “despite them carrying considerable risks to health.”
Stevens added that NHS advice states there is no scientific evidence that colonic irrigation — a therapy in which water flushes waste material from the bowel — provides any health benefits.
He said people are risking their health and wasting their money by purchasing “too-good-to-be-true remedies.”
Stevens also highlighted the misinformation surrounding vaccinations, saying Russian social media bots and anti-vaccination rhetoric were undermining the public’s confidence in essential vaccinations.
Earlier this month, Goop attracted smirks for selling a $75 so-called vagina-scented candle.
In 2018, the wellness company was slapped with penalties for “unsubstantiated claims” surrounding two of Goop’s vaginal eggs and an essential oil-like product. The company agreed to pay $145,000 in penalties.
In response to Stevens’ speech, a spokesperson for Goop told CNN: “Goop takes efficacy and product claims very seriously. With the editorial and commercial aspects of our business, we sometimes approach different topics from different points of view. On the editorial side, we are transparent when we cover emerging topics that may be unsupported by science or may be in early stages of review.
“When products are available for retail sale, we have a robust legal and compliance team that works closely with our science and research group to vet product claims. We are proud of our procedures and internal protocols and we are constantly evolving to ensure our approach is best in class.”
