Science for Legislators

Evaluating Health & Environmental Science:
A Guide for Legislators

Science_Infographics_BlogState legislators often grapple with policy decisions where the need for public protection is presented on the basis of scientific evidence. Most often these questions arise in the arenas of health and environment. 
Understanding how scientists reach their conclusions can be challenging for the lay person.  This checklist offers guidance for legislators listening to and assessing scientific testimony and scientific arguments on these often difficult questions.

Evaluating Health & Environmental Science: A Guide for Legislators

Scientific evidence should be the underpinning for policy decisions regarding the health of people and the environment. Science for Legislators offers a short list of issues, questions, and considerations for legislators to use when they encounter scientific arguments for and against proposed health or environmental policies.

Produced in collaboration with Maryland Pesticide Education Network, scientists, & public health experts


 Security_ApprovedThis guide has been reviewed by the following experts in relevant fields and endorsed as providing objective guidance:

  • National Caucus of Environmental Legislators
  • Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, FAAP
     Dean for Global Health
     Arnhold Institute for Global Health
     Professor of Preventive Medicine & Pediatrics
     Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
     New York, NY
  • Routt Reigart, MD, FAAP
     Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics
     Medical University of South Carolina
     Charleston, SC Routt Reigart, MD, FAAP