'Science Moms,' a documentary on 'fact-based parenting,' to screen at MSU

The documentary “Science Moms” started with an open letter to Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ginnifer Goodwin and other celebrity moms.

It was 2015. Paltrow and company had filmed a video pushing for mandatory labeling of food made with genetically modified organisms. A group of women scientists, science writers and farmers decided to respond.

“Please, don’t co-opt motherhood and wield your fame to oppose beneficial technologies like genetic engineering,” their letter read, in part. “Certain celebrities have misled thousands of parents into thinking that vaccines are harmful, and we see the same pattern of misinformation repeating itself here.”

When filmmaker Natalie Newell saw the letter, she saw a chance to tell a story about what she has called “fact-based parenting.”

The 28-minute film follows five women who are both mothers and scientists or science communicators, among them Michigan State University professor of translational science and molecular medicine Alison Bernstein, as they discuss the ins-and-outs of GMOs, vaccines, homeopathy.

A screening of the film will take place at 5 p.m. Tuesday in room A149 of the Plant and Soil Sciences Building at MSU.

A panel discussion with Newell and the five women in the film will follow led by Sheril Kirshenbaum, the executive director of ScienceDebate.

The event is free and open to the public.