I started to write about science and medicine at the Washington Post, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

I have never earned one penny from any pharmaceutical company. I will never accept one penny from them either. Ever.

All the food we eat - every grain of rice and kernel of corn - has been genetically modified. None of it was here before mankind learned to cultivate crops. The question isnt whether our food has been modified, but how.

Vaccination is a public health issue because influenza is a highly contagious disease. If you don't vaccinate your child, his or her schoolmates are much more likely to become ill. That is why some places (New York, for example) are making the vaccine mandatory for school children.

Daily vitamins are of no value.

It is not possible to assert publicly that Monsanto is anything other than venal without being accused of being a sellout, a fraud, or worse.

I think it is true that you can eat extremely healthy food at McDonald's, and you can eat amazingly badly at Chipotle.