Physicist Simon Singh’s libel case dropped

The Guardian : The British Chiropractic Association has dropped its libel action against physicist and science writer Simon Singh at the end of a two-year battle that has been a landmark in the libel reform campaign.The case had become a cause celebre, with scientists, celebrities and freedom of speech campaigners lining up to condemn the British libel laws and argue that Singh had a right to express his opinion in print.Singh was sued by the BCA for a piece he wrote in the Guardian‘s comment pages criticizing the association for defending chiropractors who use treatments on children with conditions such as colic and asthma, when there is little evidence such treatments work.The case has cost Singh more than US$300000 that he will never fully recover. “It still staggers me that the British Chiropractic Association and half the chiropractors in the UK were making unsubstantiated claims,” he said. “It still baffles me that the BCA then dared to sue me for libel and put me through two years of hell before I was vindicated. And it still makes me angry that our libel laws not only tolerate but also encourage such ludicrous libel suits.”