Good News for Simon Singh

Unlike in the United States, British libel law places the onus of a libel case not on the plaintiff but on the defendant.  In fact, the British system is so broken that States like California have passed legislation to protect their residents from libel lawsuits originating in the British court system.  For those who have not been following the Singh case, Simon Singh was sued by the British Chiropractic Association for libel after he correctly claimed that certain chiropractic “treatments” were, “bogus”.

Chiropractic is a type of alternative “medicine” based on demonstrably false principles with no basis in scientific medicine.  When Simon Singh pointed out that the myriad of ridiculous treatments promoted by British Chiropractors are absolute rubbish, the British Chiropractic Association attempted to bully him into silence.

Today, the judge in his case noted the, “chilling effect on public debate,” of British libel laws.  As can be seen in the video, the British Chiropractic Association, which removed many of the treatments that Singh called bogus from their website, still defend their use of the British court system to attempt to silence their critics.

Hopefully, this case will cause Britons to become more aware at the pseudoscientific underpinnings of  Chiropractic treatments.

LINKS:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/british-libel-laws-challenged-by-journalist-who-called-chiropractic-treatments-bogus/

When EM Radiation Passes the Property Line

A self-diagnosed sufferer of wi-fi induced illness in Albuquerque is suing his neighbor for not keeping her Skyping and Iphoning confined within her property line.

While the lawsuit has little chance of success given the nonexistence of credible medical evidence that electromagnetic radiation emitted from these FCC approved devices can have any measurable impact on the human body (much less cause illness), the story speaks as much to the general lack of understanding of science in America as it does for our overly-litigious society.

Arthur Firstenberg, in using the court system to attempt to intimidate his neighbor Raphaela Monribot into limiting her use of  wireless devices, exemplifies a classic case of abuse of the American court system.  The threat of a lawsuit, even a lawsuit without merit (in fact, the judge already threw out the claim that Mrs. Monribot’s iphone was causing his illness as States lack the authority over issue and is considering whether to dismiss the entire case) often is intimidating enough of a bully pulpit to coerce compliance.  Even if Arthur Firstenberg’s case is unsuccessful (as it most certainly will be), Mrs. Monribot may still be on the hook for legal costs required to defend herself against this frivolous lawsuit. 

Unfortunately, the unfounded paranoia over radio wave’s deleterious effects on human health are not going to disappear anytime soon.  Despite the complete lack of convincing evidence that there is any correlation (much less a causal explanation) between cellular phone usage and brain cancer, San Francisco Mayor (and potential future Lieutenant Governor) Gavin Newsom is pushing a requirement that all cellular phones sold in San Francisco disclose their radiation emission level.

Asking the public to understand the physics behind devices using EM radiation does not seem a likely solution.  The federal government, which regulates the electromagnetic spectrum, should remove the authority from State courts to adjudicate disputes or enact regulations regarding radio-transmitting devices.  It should also raise the barrier to filing lawsuits in Federal Court  to make it impossible to seek damages for symptoms of illnesses for which there is no strong evidence of their existence.

LINK:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-na-hometown-santa-fe28-2010mar28,0,7549400.story