Society

Chinese lacking scientific literacy

By Hu Meidong and Peng Yining (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-02 07:54

Knowledge crucial to development and stability

Fuzhou, Fujian - Only 3.27 percent of Chinese people have basic scientific literacy, which signifies a failure to keep pace with developed countries, according to a report by the China Association for Science and Technology.

Han Qide, president of the association, released the findings of the report at the group's 12th annual meeting. It was the eighth survey that China has conducted on the subject since 1992.

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Scientific literacy is the understanding and knowledge of scientific concepts and processes, an ability that is needed to make personal decisions, participate in civic and cultural affairs and be economically productive.

Han said Chinese scientists should work toward improving public understanding of their fields of expertise.

According to Han, scientists generate approximately 13.3 percent of news in the media, while they contribute 3.5 percent to government outlets and 3.2 percent to online forums.

However, during the melamine-tainted milk powder scandal of 2008, which killed at least six infants and sickened some 300,000 Chinese children, no scientists participated in online public forums about the incident.

"When the public needed scientists, they were silent," Han said. "It's a dangerous situation."

The lack of scientific literacy hampers China's development and poses a threat to social stability, Han said.

Some 14.2 percent of miners lack knowledge about poisonous gas, a major occupational hazard, and 12.5 percent of them are unaware of how to escape when a gas leak occurs, according to the report.

The low rate of scientific literacy in China has led to a number of misunderstandings.

The price of mung beans rocketed from 3 to 9 yuan per kg since April after a fraudulent health expert claimed they could be used to cure cancer.

A controllable incident at the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in May sparked panic among the public after it was reported as a radiation leak.

In 2007, banana plantations in Hainan and Guangdong provinces were infected by the Panama disease fungus. Although the fungus is not harmful to people, a rumor claiming it was potentially carcinogenic led to a substantial drop in the price of bananas and local banana farmers lost more than 20 million yuan ($3 million) a day.

"The public cannot be rational without scientific literacy," Han said. "It is scientists' responsibility to speak to the public and help them understand science. When public incidents like the dairy scandal occur, scientists should work with the media to relate the truth."

US biochemist Thomas A. Steitz, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry, told China Daily: "I talk to the media a lot. Although scientists spend most of their time on research, talking to the media is very important. I don't know how it works in China, but it inspires me."