Latest news with #environmentaltoxins
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
The Influential Adviser Helping Shape Kennedy's Policies
Calley Means says he knows firsthand that America's food and pharmaceutical industries are corrupt. As a former lobbyist, he argues, he once helped corrupt them. Mr. Means, 39, has emerged as a key figure in the Make America Healthy Again movement. He is a top adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and coordinated a presidential commission report that will be published Thursday on the causes of chronic disease among children. That report is expected to touch on some of the movement's top priorities, including environmental toxins, ultraprocessed foods and corporate influences over our health. Corporate influence has long been a talking point for Mr. Means, who has rapidly risen from an obscure health care entrepreneur to an influential figure shaping the White House's health priorities. (It was Mr. Means who suggested to Mr. Kennedy that he consider joining forces with President Trump last summer.) He is a fixture on Fox News and on popular podcasts, where he often discusses rising rates of issues such as infertility, depression, diabetes and obesity. He is the co-founder of Truemed, a startup that helps people funnel their flexible savings account dollars toward products like weights, saunas and supplements. Mr. Means has said making it easier for people to purchase these types of products could help prevent disease. Mr. Means, who does not have any formal medical training, has used his experience consulting for companies like Coca-Cola and the pharmaceutical industry to call out what he sees as insidious tactics that harm American children. For example, he has said that he worked to ensure sugar taxes failed, on behalf of soda companies. He argues that the health care industry profits from sick children and frequently describes the American public as being on a pharmaceutical 'treadmill,' arguing that the health care system pushes the public toward prescription medications rather than prioritizing diet and exercise. While many scientists and doctors agree with the movement's focus on the health of American children, some have bristled at what they see as an overly simplified picture of complex causes of chronic disease. At times, Mr. Means has also flouted conventional medical guidance, posting on Instagram that children should drink 'more raw milk and less juice' (the Food and Drug Administration has warned against raw milk) and writing on X that Covid vaccine mandates are a 'war crime, particularly for kids.' He has also called water fluoridation 'an attack on lower income kids,' citing research linking high levels of fluoride with lower childhood IQ. The science around the potential cognitive effects of fluoride at levels found in American drinking water is still unsettled. Mr. Means declined to comment for this article. Mr. Trump recently said he would name Mr. Means's sister, Dr. Casey Means, as his nominee for surgeon general. Dr. Means also co-founded Levels, a wearable glucose monitor company. The siblings co-wrote the book 'Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health,' which blames ultraprocessed foods, pesticides, sedentary lifestyles and other issues for a range of chronic diseases. The book also focuses on their mother, who died just 13 days after she was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in 2021. The pair write that their mother's doctors suggested treatments that would have kept her away from her family in her final days, given pandemic precautions. 'Good Energy' became a best seller. The Means siblings took ideas once closely aligned with the left — such as reducing environmental toxins — and framed them in a way that resonated with conservatives who were already skeptical of the health care system. The siblings' appearance on Tucker Carlson's podcast last August became Apple's most-shared episode of 2024. Soon after, the siblings appeared on the 'The Joe Rogan Experience' podcast to talk about their book, the food industry and corporate corruption. Lately, Mr. Means has found a new platform: a government news conference. Onstage at a recent F.D.A. event announcing a federal push to phase out common food dyes, Mr. Means reflected on the MAHA movement's progress: 'These are things that a year or two years ago would have been absolutely out of the question.'
CTV News
08-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Mystery brain disease doesn't exist, medical study says
A so-called mystery disease that hundreds of New Brunswickers say they suffer from doesn't exist according to a new medical study released Wednesday. Published in the journal JAMA Neurology, the study reviewed the cases of 25 patients that were evaluated at two hospitals in New Brunswick and Ontario. Dr. Anthony Lang, co-author of the study, said in 100 per cent of the cases evaluated, they were able to make a diagnosis of an established neurological problem. 'A hundred per cent we were able to make a diagnosis. Therefore, we do not feel that there is a neurological syndrome of unknown cause. They're all defined,' said Lang. That doesn't sit well with Sarah Nesbitt, a patient and environmental advocate who says her symptoms were caused by an environmental toxin. Nesbitt believes the study has inaccuracies and didn't feel reviewing the cases of 25 people was enough. 'There's actually 500 patients. They said in the study that there was no pesticides and herbicides. We have our physical test results. So, a major concern is it's confusing the public. This isn't the investigation that New Brunswick is doing,' said Nesbitt. Nesbitt said she hopes the province doesn't use the study in their own investigation into the illness. 'We don't want interference with this investigation,' said Nesbitt. Stacie Quigley Cormier's 23-year-old daughter suffers from neurological issues and is chronically ill. The patient advocate thinks the study is highly problematic. 'I think it's inaccurate. I think it's false. And I think it's very, very harmful to the patients and also to their care,' said Quigley Cormier. Dr. Alier Marrero, a Moncton-based neurologist who was the first to diagnose patients with a mystery illness, strongly disagrees with the study's conclusions. 'I am appalled that a parallel investigation with a small number of patients, has apparently been conducted for a long time, without our knowledge or our patients and families' knowledge,' said Marrero in a statement. 'I am in profound disagreement with the study conclusions and have many questions regarding the methods and the content, including cases never evaluated by us or that might have not been part of this cluster.' Marrero said he's evaluated more than 500 patients and provided a significant amount of environmental exposure evidence with many of them. But Lang doesn't see it that way. 'It's highly unlikely or if not impossible, that a single environmental factor then could have created this syndrome that has been touted to be due to environmental toxins,' said Lang. New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said the province will continue to try and determine what is going on. 'We need to work with the patients and the population of New Brunswick to answer the question about what is making New Brunswickers sick, and I think that the study didn't answer that question,' said Holt. As for Nesbitt, one of Marrero's patients, she said she's on the road to recovery and wishes the best for other patients. 'To be able to give people a way to heal, a direction to be in and hopefully some sort of recovery or justice for the patients,' said Nesbitt. With files from the Canadian Press and Sarah Plowman. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
