Instituto Questão de Ciência


The Instituto Questão de Ciência is a Brazilian non-profit organisation founded in 2018, dedicated to the promotion of scientific and critical thinking and the use of scientific evidence in public policies.

Goals

One of the primary focuses of the IQC is opposition to the spending of public funds on forms of treatment that are either ineffective or without scientific proof, as is done through the Política Nacional de Práticas Integrativas e Complementares in Brazil. The IQC seeks to convince the Brazilian government to stop financing such practices through the united health system, Sistema Único de Saúde. Other themes that motivated the creation of the institute include the phosphorylethanolamine fiasco and the invasion by anti-animal testing activists of the Royal Institute's laboratories in São Roque in 2013, as well as controversies involving genetic heritage and food labeling.
The IQC list as their focus points science education, scientific journalism and the skeptical movement.

Formation

The launch of the IQC took place on November 22, 2018 in São Paulo, at an event that included a lecture by British physician Edzard Ernst, an expert in the analysis of evidence about alternative therapies. Since its launch, the Institute has received expressions of support from the Brazilian and international scientific community. Drauzio Varella, Paulo Saldiva, Marcelo Knobel and other Brazilian scientists expressed support for the creation of the institute, in addition to skeptic James Randi, Edzard Ernst and other personalities in the world scientific dissemination.

Board

Until December 2019, the IQC board was composed of its founding members: