Casey Means Keeps Wellness Claims in Check at Senate Hearing

casey means largely avoided the eccentric wellness claims that have defined her public profile as she testified in front of the Senate’s health committee, a shift that put the nominee for surgeon general on firmer footing as senators pressed her on conflicts, glyphosate and the MAHA movement.

Casey Means largely checked her wellness rhetoric

Means testified today in front of the Senate’s health committee and, by her own account, sought out common ground with senators cross-examining her; she did not, the hearing showed, delve into her experiences with psychedelics or endorse raw milk, and she did not rail at length against birth control during questioning.

Lawmakers pressed her on glyphosate and the Trump executive order

On Wednesday, Sen. Ed Markey asked Means about past comments that glyphosate causes cancer and whether President Trump’s executive order promoting more domestic production of the weedkiller ingredient harms the health of families; the Environmental Protection Agency says there is "no evidence glyphosate causes cancer in humans. "

Means answered that "We must as a country move away from using toxic inputs in our food supply and we must study these chemicals more to understand their effects. I am very gravely concerned about the health impacts of these chemicals, " and later said the MAHA strategy was "going to make sure American consumers are protected, and that we are entering an era where we are going to prioritize helping farmers move to more sustainable farming practices. I think those are all good things. I think it's extremely important, both for our planet and our health, and I'm going to be a champion on that issue. "

Ethics filings, Levels ties and questions from Senator Murphy

Means wrote in her September ethics filing that she would resign from Levels and forfeit or divest all stock options in the company she co-founded, yet she is still listed on Levels’ blog as the company’s chief medical officer; at the hearing she said she has spent "the last several months working with the Office of Government Ethics to be fully compliant" with rules regarding conflicts of interest.

Senator Chris Murphy pressed Means on her financial relationships with companies whose products she has promoted in her newsletter, citing an analysis that found she had frequently failed to make proper disclosures; Means replied, "I have a strong feeling that the way in which they gathered this data is done intentionally to create these claims that you’re making. "

Past statements, Good Energy and MAHA roots

Before her nomination last spring, Means—who dropped out of her surgical residency in 2018—embraced a number of unconventional theories. In her 2024 book Good Energy, co-written with her brother Calley, she advised readers to avoid tap water and conventionally grown food, to trust themselves rather than doctors, to get "one cumulative hour of very hot heat exposure" each week, and to optimize health using a glucose-monitoring device available through Levels Health; Calley is now a senior adviser to the Health and Human Services secretary and is described in the record as a key figure in the MAHA movement.

Coverage of her past also notes that Means appeared on Tucker Carlson’s podcast in 2024 and denounced seed oils, suggested widespread use of hormonal birth control signaled a cultural "disrespect of life, " and has questioned the universal birth dose of the hepatitis-B vaccine. At the hearing, when Senator Patty Murray asked Means to explain previous anti–birth-control comments, Means said she was referring not to birth control generally but to particular women whose medical history might increase risk from taking birth control.

Vaccines, critics and an uncertain fragment in the record

Means avoided explicitly besmirching immunizations at the hearing and told Senator Bill Cassidy, "I believe that vaccines are a key part of any infectious-disease public-health strategy. " Health leaders, including former surgeons general, have questioned her qualifications for the position; the context also contains the fragment "Dozens of health and advoc"—unclear in the provided context.

Coverage details and what was published alongside the hearing

One account of the hearing included a video clip and a fundraising appeal that asked for "your generous monthly contribution—or whatever you can give—" and invited readers to subscribe to a politics newsletter; the coverage noted that "Watch the clip in the video player above. "

For now, the next confirmed step in the process is unclear in the provided context.