Agricultural and Pesticide groups are watching very closley as the US Senate considers Trump’s nomination of Casey Means to become surgeon general.

 

Means wrote in her online newsletter that “the single most effective strategy that I believe can solve the pressing human health and environmental issues facing our globe” is “restoring sustainable agriculture practices that contribute to biodiverse soil and nutrient-rich food and moving away from industrial agriculture that uses toxic synthetic pesticides.” She says in the newsletter that the use of pesticides worldwide “is strongly linked to nearly every single chronic disease we face by destroying our mitochondria.”

 

The surgeon general oversees 6,000 members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, and helps set the national agenda on public health. The nominee must be confirmed by the Senate.