Science journalist Simon Singh - a global campaign in defence of media freedom has been launched.
SYDNEY: A global bloggers' campaign in defence of British science writer Simon Singh - who is being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association - was launched this week by Cosmos magazine.
This week, Cosmos republished the original article in print, as well as online, deleting a reference to the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) and modifying one contentious sentence.
Manipulating the spine
The article, which originally appeared in Britain's The Guardian newspaper - is otherwise unchanged; it has been translated into French, German, Swedish and Hungarian and been republished in 86 other sites so far, most of them bloggers supporting the cause.
Singh was personally sued by the BCA for the original article in April 2008, received an adverse court ruling on May 7, which he has now decided to appeal - even though the action has so far cost an estimated £100,000. The Guardian was not sued, but has nevertheless taken down the original piece from its website.
Chiropractic is an alternative health care treatment which involves manipulating the spine using short but forceful hand movements.
The global campaign is being coordinated by the British group Sense About Science, which has collected an online petition with more than 15,000 names supporting Singh. The campaign, known as "Keep Libel Laws Out of Science", states "We, the undersigned, believe that it is inappropriate to use the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence."
"Effort has backfired"
"Simon Singh is a respected science journalist, and his article was a critical analysis of chiropractic therapy and some of the claims of its medical benefits, almost all of which are not supported by scientific evidence," said Wilson da Silva, editor of Cosmos. "Rather than suing a journalist for libel, the British Chiropractic Association should have mounted a robust scientific defence against his claims.
"If, however, the aim was to silence journalists and shut down debate, then clearly the effort has backfired," he added. "Many more journalists, scientists and members of the public are now aware of the utter nonsense behind such chiropractic claims - such as curing asthma and colic - and many more are outraged enough to agitate against the BCA and pressure for a change in English libel laws.
"Where medical claims to cure or treat ailments are not supported by scientific evidence, journalists and scientists should be able to criticise such assertions, and the public should be able to read such criticisms."
