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In Britain, Better Not Call It Bogus Science

Posted by timothy on from the oh-nothing-just-dowsing-for-magnetic-vitamins dept.

Geoffrey.landis writes 'In Britain, libel laws are censoring the ability of journalists to write stories about bogus science. Simon Singh, a Ph.D. physicist and author of several best-selling popular-science books, is currently being sued by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) for saying that there is no evidence for claims that visiting a chiropractor has health benefits. A year earlier, writer Ben Goldacre faced a libel suit for an article critical of Matthias Rath, who claimed that vitamin supplements can treat HIV and AIDS in place of conventional drugs like anti-retrovirals. In Britain, libel laws don't have any presumption of innocence — any statement made is assumed to be false unless you prove it's true. Journalists are running scared.'

3 of 754 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory Bogus First Post ... by xmas2003 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Guess I'm going to be sued now ... or at least modded down into oblivion! ;-)

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    Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
    1. Re:Obligatory Bogus First Post ... by multisync · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Oh hi, you must be new here. Let me give you some tips and rules to abide by:

      You forgot one:

      Starting your post with "I know I'll probably be modded down for saying this, but my Karma can take the hit" is guaranteed to garner a couple of positive mods.

      If you'd done that, you wouldn't curretly be -1 Off Topic.

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      I don't care why you're posting AC
  2. Re:Ben Goldacre on Bad Science at RI today by elborro · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    poor media reporting of science

    Sounds so /.