Surgeon General pick had supplement company deals
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Health influencer Casey Means pledged to resign from her food tracking and wearables company Levels Health if confirmed as surgeon general, according to a recent filing with the Office of Government Ethics.
Why it matters: The commitment is one of several steps Means intends to take to limit conflicts of interest in the role as the nation's top doctor, according to a letter outlining how she would uphold ethical standards.
Zoom in: Financial disclosures Means filed with the ethics office also show that she's received hundreds of thousands of dollars from supplement companies in sponsorships and affiliate fees, per Stat.
- That includes more than $130,000 from supplement company Amazentis, and $27,000 from probiotics company Pendulum Therapeutics.
- The ethics commitment states she will stop publishing her newsletter and monetized social media posts once she enters government service, and terminate all partnership agreements before starting in the role.
- Means did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Supplements are subject to minimal government regulation and don't have to meet specified safety or effectiveness standards before coming to market.
- The Associated Press in June reported that Means has at times failed to disclose financial deals with companies she promoted in her newsletter, on social media and in other channels.
Means will refrain from any promotional activities around her book, "Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health," according to the ethics pledge.
Context: Means received a medical degree from Stanford but is not a practicing doctor. She and her brother Calley Means — currently a White House advisor — have close ties to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- She's garnered backlash from health care providers for views that aren't sufficiently grounded in scientific consensus, as well as from corners of Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" movement for not questioning vaccines enough.
Means was nominated in early May but the Senate hasn't scheduled a confirmation hearing.
