Michigan is grounded zero for the twin public health crises wreaking havoc in the US. The state had some of the most polluted air on Earth last week due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires, while also reporting the highest number of cyclosporosis cases in the country.
These eye-catching (and sometimes inkling) problems, says senatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed, make a complicated topic – the need to invest in public health infrastructure – incredibly basic to discuss with voters. He is uniquely qualified to do so as an M.D. who worked as a health official in Detroit.
“Do you like eating lettuce? I do. I don’t like the idea because DOGE we have implemented our entire service that keeps lettuce safe,” El-Sayed says, referring to how the Department of Government Efficiency reduced the federal cyclosporosis testing lab last year. “Now everyone is trying to avoid lettuce. And if you don’t, you’re stuck in the toilet for the next five days. It sucks.”
El-Sayed faces a tight Democratic primary in the race for Michigan’s open senatorial seat. He has received support from high-profile progressives: Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallied with him in Grand Rapids over the weekend, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorsed him on Monday. In her endorsement, Warren stated that El-Sayed is someone who will fight “the same billionaires and special interests that have rigged our economy against working people.” According to El-Sayed, this includes addressing election expenses.
“At the end of the day, a lot of this comes down to getting money out of politics,” he says. “A lot of these regulatory changes involve huge food companies that think these regulations are too big. We can enforce them ourselves. And you, right? Why didn’t you fix the poop lettuce?”
WIRED caught up with El-Sayed to talk about how he would address the public health issues facing his state and why we shouldn’t accept that “poop lettuce” is our fresh normal.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
WIRE: What have the last few weeks been like for you personally in the wake of this dual public health crisis?
Abdul El-Sayed: I don’t know what happened, but they took me out for four days – they didn’t test me because I was on the campaign trail, but I think that’s what happened [cyclosporiasis]. If you can imagine the campaign, it was pathetic. It was actually my wife who said, “You probably got it.”
And then we’ve been really concerned about air quality over the last week. I try to stay lively – I cycle a lot – and I decided to stay at home. By exercising outdoors with this air quality, you are doing more harm than good.
You shouldn’t avoid lettuce wherever you go and then unconsciously run away because you didn’t avoid lettuce. Step back and ask yourself if any of this is normal.
You have had extensive experience dealing with such crises at the local and state levels. What would you do in the Senate, especially given an administration that is stripping away funding and staff and basic public health tools like peer-reviewed science and public data?
I would love to be able to attract leaders from the EPA, CDC, and FDA [to testify before Congress]. I want to closely examine how our food supply was compromised and how decisions were made at the CDC. Why are their counters so far behind? For the enormous majority of people, cyclosporiasis is not a fatal outcome – but imagine what happens when that same infrastructure has to deal with something that really is. What will we do then?