There is a major problem with reliance on placebos, like most vitamins and antioxidants. Everyone gets upset about Big Science, Big Pharma,… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
When people say they prefer organic food, what they often seem to mean is they don't want their food tainted with pesticides… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Most reputable scientists agree that climate change is real and that the effects are likely to be bad. But nobody can say… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
When most members of a community are vaccinated, they protect those who are not by eliminating the viral reservoirs in the population.… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Many of the most eloquent people I have ever met work in lab coats every day. — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
'Meat' is a vague term and can be used to refer to many parts of an animal, including internal organs and skin.… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Deliberately modifying the earth's atmosphere would be a desperate gamble with significant risks. Yet the more likely climate change is to cause… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
There are many theories about the best way to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere - some are ludicrous, others are at… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Consumers deserve the right to know what's in their food - and obviously, most people want that choice. It's hard to see… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Lyme disease is the most commonly reported tick-borne illness in the United States, and the incidence is growing rapidly. In 2009, the… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
The most blatant forms of denialism are rarely malevolent; they combine decency, a fear of change, and the misguided desire to do… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Most people prepare for travels by reading about their destination; it always seemed an odd approach to me. I find it much… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Until the Nineteen-Eighties, when Deng Xiaoping designated the area as China's first special economic zone, Shenzhen had been a tiny fishing village. Suddenly, eleven… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
There are people who could watch a hurricane like Sandy blow out of the Atlantic every other day and blame it on anything but… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
We're lying ourselves into believing things are untrue, like organic food will solve all our problems, or vitamins will make us healthy, or we… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
I started to write about science and medicine at the 'Washington Post,' in the early days of the AIDS epidemic. — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Clearly, some of the reason people embrace alternatives and reject vaccines is that they are angry and mistrustful of government and of pharmaceutical conglomerates.… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
The numbers matter: underreporting of Lyme disease obscures the true burden of the illnesses, on individuals as well as on health-care systems. It also… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
There is a major problem with reliance on placebos, like most vitamins and antioxidants. Everyone gets upset about Big Science, Big Pharma, but they… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Denialist arguments are often bolstered by accurate information taken wildly out of context, wielded selectively, and supported by fake experts who often don't seem… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
Your dollar cheeseburger isn't a dollar if you factor in what it's going to cost in health care. — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
To suggest that organic vegetables, which cost far more than conventional produce, can feed billions of people in parts of the world without roads… — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
The history of agriculture is the history of humans breeding seeds and animals to produce traits we want in our crops and livestock. — Michael Specter Copy Share Image
