Scientific Literacy and Health

Yesterday was World Health Day.

Yay – for being healthy.

But let’s talk a little bit about scientific literacy.

I was told the other day by someone considering vaccines, that there were so many studies pro and con and she just couldn’t figure out who was telling the truth.

I was astonished because figuring out which studies are real and which aren’t isn’t all that hard.

The skill required to make sense of competing claims is scientific literacy. 

Yes, this takes a little bit of effort to find out if a report is valid or has any science at all to back it up, but that little bit of effort is worth it.

Saying I can’t figure out competing claims is an admission you are too lazy to figure it out or that you don’t want to because you don’t want your biases challenged.

Regardless, if you want to be healthy – you need to be scientifically literate.

Look it up and learn how to do it.