Retired pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson’s campaign to win the Republican nomination for President has seen rapid growth over the past month, with some polls showing Carson in the lead among potential voters. However, controversy has followed Dr. Carson throughout the campaign, the most recent example coming to light during his appearance at the Republican debate in Boulder, Colorado on October 28.
During the course of that debate, Dr. Carson was asked by CNBC moderator Carl Quintanilla about his involvement with the nutritional supplement company Mannatech. Noting that Dr. Carson had a ten-year close relationship with the company, Quintanilla asked why he chose to receive endorsement fees that included making speeches on the company’s behalf. Carson’s most recent speech for the company, in 2013, paid him $42,000. Four reported speeches were given to Mannatech, the first to sales associates in 2004. Citing his cancer diagnosis, Dr. Carson told the group that he had considered simply taking the product instead of undergoing the surgery before combining the two.
Some videos with Dr. Carson touting the virtues of the product had been prominent on the company’s website, but were taken down after Dr. Carson personally requested they be removed as he began his political campaign. When questions began to emerge about the questionable nature of the product, even more videos with Dr. Carson were removed. Dr. Carson was vehement in his denial that he had no involvement with the company, saying that such claims amounted to “propaganda.” He then added that he had only given a few paid speeches to audiences, touting the product’s viability.
Quintanilla followed up by pointing out that his image is on the company website’s homepage, with its logo prominently located next to him. Dr. Carson claimed that it was done without his permission, but Quintanilla then asked if the controversy reflected issues related to Dr. Carson’s judgement. Admitting that he took Mannatech, which is made from aloe and larch tree bark, Dr. Carson then endorsed it by saying it was a good product. He had begun taking it when he underwent prostate cancer treatment more than 10 years ago.
Mannatech has been the subject of litigation, settling a charge of deceptive marketing directed at them by the state of Texas for $7 million. The charges stemmed from the fact that the company was claiming that their supplements would be able to cure diseases like cancer and afflictions like autism and Down syndrome. In another case that resulted in a lawsuit, a woman sued the company in 2004 after the company used photos of a boy suffering from Tay-Sachs disease in advertisements. In those ads, the company claimed that Mannatech supplements had helped him gain weight, when in fact he had already died from the disease.
Dr. Carson’s medical career was a distinguished one, highlighted in 1987, when he became the first doctor to separate conjoined twins who had been attached at the back of their heads. He received numerous awards and wrote a best-selling autobiography entitled “Gifted Hands,” in 1992, but his burgeoning political career didn’t begin until after his retirement.
At the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, with President Barack Obama just a few feet away, Dr. Carson proceeded to attack the Affordable Care Act. In later comments, he would compare the health care law to slavery, one of many controversial he would proceed to make over the next few years. Dr. Carson’s appeal with potential voters, along with the popularity of businessman Donald Trump and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, has been their perceived image as political outsiders.