By JONATHAN LEAKE - TIMESONLIN
Added: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:00:00 UTC

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6841525.ece

Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist, is to call for Britain’s libel laws to be reformed following a string of cases in which science researchers and writers have been sued for criticising health therapies they felt to be unreliable.

Dawkins will today ask Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, to support reforms that would protect scientists and doctors who want to speak out against treatments they have concerns about.

Among those currently facing writs is Simon Singh, the broadcaster and author, who is being sued by the British Chiropractic Association for an article criticising the use of chiropractic techniques for some childhood illnesses. He has spent £100,000 defending the action.

Another is Peter Wilmshurst, a heart specialist at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, who is being sued by NMT Medical, an American company, for suggesting that medical trials into one of its devices had been described innaccurately to other scientists.

Wilmshurst made his remarks in America to a US journalist who published it on an American website. However, the company was still able to issue its writ in Britain, where libel laws are regarded as among the most draconian in the world.

Dawkins will tell the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth that the UK’s libel laws are having a “chilling effect” on public debate about science and medicine.
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http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6841525.ece

TAGGED: LAW, MEDICINE, RICHARD DAWKINS