Casey Means’ hearing shift: who feels the impact first as sharp wellness claims make way for a cautious confirmation tone

The confirmation hearing for Casey Means matters now because the nominee’s noticeably moderated tone reshuffles immediate risk and trust calculations for families, American consumers and farmers. Means—who has been a wellness influencer, author and entrepreneur—downplayed several of her more unconventional public positions during questioning while confronting queries about an executive order on glyphosate, financial disclosures and previous statements on birth control and vaccines.

Casey Means’ tone change and the immediate ripple effects

Here’s the part that matters: by steering away from her more eccentric claims during testimony, Means shifted who will feel and respond first. Families worried about chemical exposure heard pointed exchanges about glyphosate; consumers who follow wellness guidance will notice differences between her past recommendations and her hearing answers; and farmers were directly named when Means discussed moving toward more sustainable practices. That repositioning alters how watchdogs, health leaders and the public-weight of recommendations will react if she is confirmed.

What she avoided, what she emphasized

At the Senate health committee hearing, Means largely kept her more unconventional wellness commentary out of her testimony: she did not delve into experiences with psychedelics, did not endorse raw milk, and did not rail at length against birth control. Instead she emphasized her medical degree from Stanford while also acknowledging she does not hold an active medical license. She sought common ground with senators cross-examining her, and answered specific probes about earlier comments.

Previously, before her nomination last spring, Means — who dropped out of a surgical residency in 2018 — had embraced striking wellness views. A recent write-up by Rina Raphael last month noted that Means has talked to trees, implied natural disasters were a "communication from God, " and called the nation’s health "a spiritual crisis. " In 2024, on a prominent podcast appearance, she denounced seed oils and framed widespread use of hormonal birth control as indicative of a cultural "disrespect of life. " She has also questioned the universal birth dose of the hepatitis-B vaccine.

Means co-wrote a 2024 book, Good Energy, with her brother Calley; Calley is now a senior adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a key figure in the MAHA movement. The book advises avoiding tap water and conventionally grown food, recommends trusting oneself rather than doctors, and suggests "one cumulative hour of very hot heat exposure" weekly. It also encourages optimizing health with a glucose-monitoring device available through Levels Health, a company she co-founded.

Glyphosate, MAHA and the hearing exchange

During the hearing Sen. Ed Markey pressed Means about the president’s recent executive order promoting more domestic production of glyphosate, an ingredient in weedkiller, and whether that order conflicts with her past comments that glyphosate causes cancer. Means, described in the hearing as a wellness influencer and author, said she is "very gravely concerned about the health impacts of these chemicals, " said the country should move away from toxic inputs in the food supply, and emphasized studying chemicals to understand their effects.

The Environmental Protection Agency says there is "no evidence glyphosate causes cancer in humans. " Means identified herself as a supporter of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which largely opposes pesticides in food production, and as an ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She said MAHA strategies will push to protect American consumers and help farmers move to more sustainable farming practices, calling those priorities important for both the planet and public health. Senator Markey observed that the MAHA movement is not happy with the executive order.

Conflicts, disclosures and unanswered items

Means wrote in a September ethics filing that she would resign from Levels and forfeit or divest all stock options in the company. Despite that filing, she is still listed on Levels’ blog as the company’s chief medical officer in the provided context. At the hearing she said she had spent "the last several months working with the Office of Government Ethics to be fully compliant" with conflict-of-interest rules. Senator Chris Murphy pressed her on financial relationships with companies she has promoted in her newsletter, citing an analysis that found frequent failures to disclose to readers; Means pushed back on the data’s collection and conclusions during testimony.

What’s easy to miss is that she emphasized her Stanford medical degree while not holding an active license, a point that helps explain why health leaders and former surgeons general have questioned her qualifications for the role.

Micro timeline and remaining uncertainties

• 2018 — Means dropped out of a surgical residency.
• 2024 — High-profile podcast appearances and publication of Good Energy; a noted public profile on wellness topics.
• Last spring — Means was nominated for surgeon general; a September ethics filing addressed Levels ownership.

The hearing coverage in the provided context refers to the confirmation testimony as happening "today" in one account and on "Wednesday" in another; whether those references point to the same hearing is unclear in the provided context. The article's provided context also ends with an incomplete fragment: "Dozens of health and advoc" — unclear in the provided context.

The real question now is whether the combination of moderated hearing responses, ongoing ethics work with the Office of Government Ethics, and public concern about chemicals and past wellness claims will be enough to address the doubts raised by health leaders and senators before any final decision is made.

The piece was presented with a short video clip of the hearing, included a reader appeal for monthly contributions to support the publisher, a prompt to subscribe to a newsletter, and was credited to Wyatte Grantham-Philips in the provided context.