Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences

The Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences (CICAP, www.cicap.org) is a non-profit educational organization devoted to the promotion of critical thinking and scientific method, to guaranteeing the correct information about science, and the critical inquiry of pseudosciences, scientific hoaxes and fake news.

The researchers of CICAP, coming from different disciplines and fields (and from many different institutions and universities), are permanently engaged in the analysis of a wide spectrum of claims and phenomena concerning very diverse fields: health (like the as the problem of no-vax) and medical controversies, cognitive biases, conspiracy theories (like as the climate change negationism), urban legends and historical falsifications, paranormal or supernatural theories like creationism, astrology, parapsychology. In addition, CICAP is also involved in the analysis of the reasons and dynamics facilitating the dissemination of fake news and how to intervene fruitfully against them, organizing lectures, seminars and conferences such as “CICAP-Fest 2017”, a three-day scientific festival composed of tens of conferences, seminars, lectures, laboratories both for the general public and for specific targets (journalists, students, etc.) held in different venues in the city of Cesena. CICAP is also actively involved in the discussion on how the institutions could act to prevent this problem.

In Italy CICAP is now recognized as an influential voice in the public debate on fake news and pseudoscience and is regularly consulted on these topics by institutions and mass media alike.
The main area where CICAP can support the EU policy is therefore the EU campaign against fake news (euvsdisinfo.eu). More specifically, as detailed below, CICAP also supports the policies of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (https://ecdc.europa.eu/), of the European Climate Action Programme (https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/eccp_en), of the European Union Evidence Based Medicine Unity (http://ebm-unity.pc.unicatt.it/ebm/index.html), and Resolution 1580 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe concerning the dangers of creationism in education (http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewHTML.asp?FileID=11751&lang=en)


CICAP’s direct influence on Italian institutions is twofold:
the committee, in the person of its Executive Director, Massimo Polidoro, was recently involved by the President of the House of Representative, Laura Boldrini, as a member of a National Committee concerning fake news. The Committee’s statement had a great impact on the media and prompted several educational activities that have been developed in the last year.
The committee collaborates with the Italian Ministry of Industry, University and Research (MIUR) aiming at organizing educational seminars for teachers, and courses on prevention of fake news for students.

Concerning the indirect influence on Italian institutions, in the last 30 years CICAP has carried out various activities that have functioned both as a driving force of national policies to encourage better information (e.g., pro vaccines information; campaigns against non evidence based treatments; conferences and courses on critical thinking; debates on fake news) and as a channel for disseminating and spreading better information on national and European policies. The main target groups of these activities are news agencies, social media platforms and academia.

CICAP has often acted as a mediator between institutions and citizens, contributing to explain to the broad public the national and EU policies (for example: in the field of health, CICAP has organized meetings and conferences on the benefits of vaccination, spreading the recommendations of WHO and EU; on environmental issues, explaining the phenomenon of global warming and the danger of overlooking its effects and therefore boosting support for the Kyoto protocol.

An accurate work of analysis and information, as well as the study of the issue of fake news is of paramount importance for our society, and the diffusion of hoaxes could have catastrophic consequences both for democracy and for the maintenance of international balances. Hoaxes concerning political figures or delicate issues such as immigration or health can have catastrophic consequences on the politics of our Union and on everyone’s daily life. It is therefore necessary a stronger, transnational and transdisciplinary coordination that will allow us to better comprehend the fake news phenomenon and understand how to tackle it. CICAP, which has an experience of almost thirty years in this field, proposes itself for more active participation in the activities that the EU is undertaking in this field. CICAP, in fact, can contribute expertly to the discussion, sharing a large number of case studies and several examples of dissemination and education to critical and scientific thought.

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No lobbyists with EP accreditations

None declared

Mr Massimo Polidoro (Executive Director)

Mr Sergio Della Sala (President)

III - Non-governmental organisations

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