Science misjudged
Rather than showing evidence for their claims to be able to treat certain ailments, the British Chiropractic Association has instead taken legal action against Simon Singh for his article in The Guardian newspaper, in which he described specific chiropractic treatments as “bogus”.
In the preliminary hearing for this libel case against Simon, the judge’s interpretation was that Simon had not just called the treatments bogus, but that he was accusing the practitioners themselves of being dishonest by knowing of their inefficacy. Simon denies making such an implication, emphasising that his use of the word bogus referred only to the treatments.
Due to quirky English law, the onus is now on Simon to defend himself and show that what he had written was not libellous. If, as Simon says, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that these specific treatments do what they claim, it would be plain sailing through the court system, but unfortunately the judge’s interpretation makes his position much harder to defend. Simon Singh is therefore appealing against this judgement.
The story is being covered by reputable science journals, the mainstream media and it can be found across the blogosphere. Let me add my own voice to the rising crescendo of support for Simon, open scientific criticism and free debate.
To the British Chiropractic Association: Show us the scientific evidence for your claims (statistically valid, double blind medical trials performed under strict scientific conditions), not your legal might. If you have any credibility at all, that’s a good basis to start from.
You can follow this story as it develops, at Sense About Science.
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[...] a chiropractor and vice-president of the British Chiropractic Association (BCA). As reported in my previous post, the BCA has taken legal action against Simon Singh for his article published in The Guardian [...]
[...] up a whole can of worms and now chiropractors are struggling to contain the wriggly onslaught. By taking legal action against Simon Singh for what they call a libellous article in the Guardian newspaper, they have succeeded in attracting [...]
[...] those following the legal battle between the British Chiropractic Association and Simon Singh, you can hear more about it from Simon himself. In a recent interview on the Nature Podcast, he [...]
[...] Interpreting the bogus Posted 16/10/2009 Filed under: Pseudo-science, Science | The legal battle between the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) and the science writer Simon Singh slogs on. The BCA brought the libel case against Singh for his article in the Guardian which referred to certain chiropractic treatments as bogus (see Science misjudged). [...]