Ask for Evidence is a campaign launched by Sense about Science that helps people request for themselves the evidence behind news stories, marketing claims and policies.

We hear daily claims about what is good for our health, bad for the environment, how to improve education, cut crime, treat disease or improve agriculture. Some are based on reliable evidence and scientific rigour. Many are not.

How can we make companies, politicians, commentators and official bodies accountable for the claims they make? If they want us to vote for them, believe them or buy their products, then we should Ask for Evidence.

Ask for Evidence isn’t about leading an ‘evidence-based life’; it is about holding powerful figures to account and not having the wool pulled over our eyes on important issues. It is making sure that a discussion of the evidence is happening when it really matters. That might be when a public figure or authority makes a claim or decision on our behalf; or when public money or our health or safety is at stake.

People come here to share their experiences of asking for evidence and to use the hub of resources and expertise to make sense of the evidence they receive.

Ask for Evidence is supported by hundreds of public figures, organisations and thousands of supporters such as Mumsnet, NHS Behind the Headlines and the Royal Statistical Society. The campaign has received core funding from The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and this website was built thanks to support from the Wellcome Trust.

Ask for Evidence was launched by Sense about Science in 2011. Sense about Science is a charity that helps people to make sense of science and evidence and promote use of evidence in public life. This takes us from responding to outlandish diet claims by celebrities to helping parents understand vaccines, from working with people with chronic diseases to beat misleading ‘cure’ claims on the Internet to pressing for sound use of statistics in media reporting.