An herbal supplement being sold by President Donald Trump’s nominee for surgeon general contains ingredients banned by the U.S. military and health experts warn can cause liver damage.
Dr. Nicole Safier’s record of selling nutritional supplements, which are poorly regulated in the United States, has raised concerns among doctors and consumer advocacy groups, some of whom claim she is selling “snake oil.”
Amazon announced that it had begun investigating the product after receiving inquiries from the Guardian about whether it complied with its policies regarding the sale of supplements.
“Nobody in the supplement industry prides themselves on being scientifically rigorous,” says Dr. Peter Lurie of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food and health watchdog group. Lurie has been an outspoken critic of those within Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, whom he called “scammers” in the wellness industry, who he said make unsubstantiated claims and sell poorly regulated supplements to consumers.
The Surgeon General is considered America’s doctor and is responsible for communicating the best scientific information to the American public on how to improve their health. Previous surgeon generals have issued influential warnings about tobacco use and educated the public about AIDS.
Safir is a radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New Jersey who specializes in breast cancer and is a former Fox News contributor. She is Trump’s third nominee in the Senate after his first two failed to advance.
Saphier and her company, Drop RX, did not respond to several emails seeking comment.
“Dr. Nicole Safia is an accomplished physician who practiced radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and has been outspoken on breast cancer prevention, intrusive COVID-19 mandates, the politicization of science, and the federal government’s role in America’s chronic disease epidemic,” White House press secretary Khush Desai wrote in an email. “She will be a powerful asset to President Trump and will work tirelessly to implement every aspect of his Maha policy.”
Richard Carpiano, a public health scientist and professor of public policy at the University of California, Riverside, said he was concerned that candidates for jobs that rely heavily on trust were selling “pseudoscientific” products for profit.
“The Surgeon General of the United States should be a highly trusted position as America’s health communicator, bringing the best science and scientific know-how,” said Carpiano, who has worked on Surgeon General reports in the past. “If she’s going to promote these kinds of wellness products, what else can she promote?”
According to a review in the Guardian, Safier has been selling products under the brand name Drop RX since at least 2024. The Guardian found that the brand offered at least nine different formulations with names such as Allure, Boost, Relief, Sleep and Intimacy. The label states that Drop RX is “prescribed by a doctor,” hinting at the benefits people will receive if they use the product. The label states that Focus is “designed to support overall brain health,” while Calm is “designed to support mind-body balance.”
Drop RX’s website links directly to Amazon, and until recently Drop RX had two formulations available in stores: Calm and Focus. The Guardian purchased both products for $24.99 each shortly after Safieh was announced as President Trump’s nominee. The liquid comes in a 2-ounce glass bottle with a dropper, and the label recommends “placing 1 to 2 droppers daily under your tongue or diluting it in a drink.”
On Wednesday, the Guardian contacted Amazon and Safia about listing DropRX. By Thursday, some listings had been removed and remaining listings were listed as “Currently Unavailable” and unavailable for purchase. Amazon said in an email that it is “investigating the compliance of the products in question and will take appropriate corrective action.”
In the past, Safieh has promoted products on her Instagram account. In a video posted in June 2025, she asked: “Did you see the new research published this week? The more rosemary and sage you have in your diet, the more you actually reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Good news! Drop RX Focus already includes liquid rosemary and sage to promote brain health, so we’re already ahead of the trend.”
In another video from August 2025, Safia said her morning routine includes making tea with Boost and Intimacy products.
“Intimacy. I know what that sounds like,” she says with a smile while showing the box to the camera. She called it an incredible combination that is a “natural aphrodisiac.” “In fact, this is great for hormonal support. So if you’re my age, we could all use this, male or female.”
Unlike Saphier’s other products, Guardian was unable to find Intimacy listed on Amazon.
In another post that turned up on Google, Safia, who is no longer visible on her Instagram account, said she was putting together a “care package” of DropRX liquid herbs for Trump “as he continues to recover from his gunshot wounds.”
Safia’s employer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), one of the most prestigious research hospitals in the world, has a conflict of interest policy that prohibits “endorsing any product or commercial venture.” MSKCC did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment on whether Safieh was following hospital policy.
Ingredients of concern
The first ingredient listed in Drop RX’s “Calm” formula is kava kava root. The ingredient, also known as kava, was added to the U.S. Department of Defense’s list of prohibited dietary supplement ingredients in April 2024 “based on the potential for impairment and subsequent threat to the military,” according to a Department of Defense Health System spokesperson.
The spokesperson added that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates food and drug safety, first issued a consumer advisory in 2002, expressing concerns about liver damage associated with kava use. The FDA released a 29-page review of the scientific literature in 2020 highlighting safety concerns about kava.
Although kava is legally sold in the United States, it has been banned or restricted in some countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Switzerland, due to concerns about liver toxicity.
US rules can vary depending on whether you mix it with anything and where it’s sold. For example, kava is sometimes sold as tea, but it is considered adulterated and prohibited from serving in restaurants in New York State. However, New York state does not restrict the sale of kava alone as a dietary supplement, according to a spokesperson for the state health department.
Consumer advocates raised additional concerns about Drop RX.
ConsumerLab.com independently tests health and nutritional products and has reviewed thousands of nutritional supplements. We have published a list of ‘red flags’ to look out for when purchasing nutritional supplements.
After investigating Amazon listings for two Drop RX products at the Guardian’s request, company president Todd Cooperman said the biggest red flag the group flagged was labels that didn’t tell you how much you were getting. The two products purchased by the Guardian listed ingredients such as organic ginkgo biloba extract; bacopa monnieri and organic lavender, but there was no mention of how much of each is in the bottle or how much is in one dose.
“We want consumers to buy products where they actually know what’s on offer,” Cooperman said. “Most supplements will list the content of each ingredient.”
The labels said the products were made in the United States and used good manufacturing practices, but did not specify where they were made or provide any indication that a third party had verified those manufacturing practices, Cooperman said.
growing market
Supplements are a growing but controversial area of the wellness market. Key figures in the Maha movement are courting the industry, with U.S. sales estimated to reach $72.9 billion in 2025.
But unlike drugs and medicines, which are subject to rigorous testing, nutritional supplements do not need to be proven safe and effective before being marketed, said Lurie of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. That means many supplements are ineffective, don’t contain the ingredients they claim, contain ingredients that can cause health problems, or all of the above, he said.
Unlike pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements are not allowed to make health claims, such as treating a specific disease. However, it is possible to make so-called structural or functional claims such as “immune support” or “calcium builds strong bones”, which indicate that the ingredients may affect the structure and function of the body.
Lurie said the reason many dietary supplements fall into that category is because no one has proven they are effective and provide health benefits.
“If that’s the case, someone might take it and try to turn it into drugs, right? Because that’s when you make good money, and you make even better money,” he said.
He said Safieh was only recently selected by President Trump to endorse such products, and he believes that “tells us something about the quality of the science in which those products are likely to be implemented.”
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