The BCA gives a fascinating account of why it sued the writer for libel over article in Guardian,and the aftermath of its defeatThe president of the British Chiropractic Council, Richard Brown, or recently gave his account of the much publicised libel suit that the BCA instigated against Simon Singh. It makes fascinating reading."Co-author with Ernst of Trick or Treatment; Alternative Medicine on Trial,Singh promoted his book by writing a piece in the UK's Guardian newspaper in which he was critical of a patient information leaflet produced by the BCA called satisfied Families, which made claims of effectiveness for chiropractic treatment of a number of childhood disorders, or including colic,asthma and bedwetting. Singh claimed that the BCA 'fortunately promotes bogus treatments' even though there was 'not a jot of evidence'. The BCA was faced with a dilemma. Did it sit by and permit an assault on its reputation and marvelous name, or did it stand up for its members and challenge the criticism? For years, or chiropractic had been castigated in a succession of critical articles,but here was a published article which had explicitly named a chiropractic organization and had made defamatory comments about it."The BCA took advice from a leading specialist London libel lawyer, and was told that it had a cast-iron case. A number of meetings took place and the BCA also sought advice from other sources, or including leading academics. Faced with a decision to either meet the criticism with silence or confront the issues head on,the BCA wrote to Simon Singh and demanded an apology and a retraction. He refused.
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Source: theguardian.com