Hi, I'm Irafledo, and you're listening to Science Friday.

State legislatures are coming back into session, and as they convene, lawmakers across the country

are likely to encounter anti-science bills.

That's legislation that seeks to remove protections around public health issues,

like vaccines, milk safety, fluoride. An investigation found that last year, more than 420

anti-science bills were introduced across the country. So what can we expect for this upcoming

legislative year? Joining me now is

Laura Unger, Science and Medical Reporter for the Associated Press based in Louisville, Kentucky. Welcome

to Science Friday. Thanks very much. Thanks for having me. Let's talk about this. Hard to believe more than

420 anti-science bills. What qualifies as20 anti-science bills?

What qualifies as an anti-science bill?

So we looked at three areas, as you mentioned, vaccines, milk, safety, and fluoride.

The reason we chose looking at those areas is because they go against scientifically proven

health measures. Like, for example, experts say that

global vaccine efforts have saved more than 150 million lives since the mid-70s. Cavities have

declined dramatically since fluoridation began, and milk pasteuriation has saved millions from

foodborne illness.

So that's why we chose those to look at.

Can you give me an example of what these bills looked like?

The vast majority actually were anti-vaccine bills.

And we had certain methodology that we used to determine what we met by that. So, for example,

bills that made it easier to get vaccine exemption or placed additional regulatory burdens or

...