Sharp eyed visitors will notice a new Ask for Evidence link on our home page.

Blenkharn Environmental is pleased to support the Ask for Evidence campaign of Sense about Science. As longtime supports of Sense about Science, we are particularly happy to join with the growing army of supporters who will ask for evidence!

Why? Far too often, we are bombarded with scientific and medical information: on advertising material, product websites, advice columns, campaign statements, celebrity health fads and policy announcements. Even where there is some regulation, in advertising or trading standards, and without doubt in those regulatory processes that are applicable to waste management.

This ‘evidence’ is sometimes undoubtedly based on sound science but too often it is not. bad science makes for bad regulation. Whether it is inadequate, flawed or incomplete research, or perhaps a highly selective approach to its interpretation and use, regulation based on flimsy evidence keep reappearing. But of course, an ideological approach without the support of sound science is just plain wrong. It is an abuse of science and of the regulatory process itself.

The only way to address this is to equip people to ask questions about evidence for themselves. Ask and keep asking. Challenge the improbably and dismiss that which is simply inadequate, or just plain wrong. That has been a fundamental tenet of Blenkharn Environmental and our Code of Conduct, and indeed is enshrined in our award winning publication Quo vadis: science and regulation as uneasy bedfellows.

The new Sense about Science campaign ‘Ask for evidence’ aims to get more members of the public and professionals asking advertisers, companies, government bodies and other organisations to set out the evidence they have for their claims. High profile figures across many sectors of science and public life have come together to back the campaign. Why don’t you join too?