Simon Singh vs British Chiropractic

[DanielV]

Hi All,

Has anyone been following the case of British scientist Simon Singh being personally sued by British Chiropractic for libel?

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Singh#Chiropractic_lawsuit

Simon Singh wrote an article in The Guardian newspaper some time back that criticised British Chiropractic for claims that were clearly unsupported by scientific evidence.

In response, British Chiropractic sued, but instead of suing the newspaper, they opted to sue Simon Singh, personally.

In the U.K, libel laws work the opposite way to we normally familiar - in the U.K, a person charged with libel must prove their innocence.

So far, a preliminary hearing of the court case decided in favour of British Chiropractic, but now Simon Singh is appealing.

There is a big issue at the core of this - the british libel laws seem to have the effect of freezing out free debate and criticisms and enquiry, something that science requires in order to thrive and grow.

There has been much support for Simon Singh, from notable scientists and entertainers and much of the issue is documented at the website www.senseaboutscience.org.uk (http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/333/)

I just wished to pass this information on - it will be interesting to see how the court case turns out.

Peace *

Daniel V

[Worldslaziestbusker]

Hi dverbern
The case has been receiving a lot of attention at the Australian Skeptics' website: http://www.skeptics.com.au/
where they've had their own adventure into the libellous world of chiropractic wrath for following the story.
If Singh loses it will be a blow to both his finances and UK based science publishing, effectively giving the courts the final say in what is considered scientifically valid. Can't see it doing the BCA much good though, as the case seems to hinge on interpretation of the word "bogus" and whether or not it implied they knowingly supplied useless treatments. That they supplied useless treatments seems to be a given in most of the literature I've read around the case.
WLB