WITH THE PROVOST claiming UCL is trying to “tackle humanity’s most pressing problems”, things look dark for the future of mankind if a couple of quacks are able to throw a spanner in the works so easily. Back in June, two herbalists from Reading accused UCL of defamation and threatened legal action all because of a popular blog written by a UCL professor which is published on the College webservers. Worryingly, it seems that Provost Professor Malcolm Grant was quick to yield to the unfounded legal demands of the pair.
The story begins in January 2007 when herbalist Ann Walker wrote an editorial for the British Journal of General Practice bemoaning the lack of nutrient supplement use for diabetes. While the piece encourages supplement use, it failed to mention that Walker is a consultant for several nutritional supplement companies - in fact, her editorial was almost certainly part of a widespread campaign by herbalists to stir up business by claiming that their oft-untested wares are scientifically proven to have a beneficial effect on our health.
Having picked up on Walker’s deceit, Professor Colquhoun wrote about the matter in his blog, “Improbable Science”, which rubbishes the pseudo-scientific claims made by various charlatans. Despite having previously been hidden away on the UCL servers, the blog has gained the attention of various readers including Guardian ‘Bad Science’ blogger Ben Goldacre.
Blood cleanser
In one entry, Colquhoun depicted Walker as a peddler of quack medicines such as red clover, a so-called ‘blood cleanser’, and heartsease, which is recommended for conditions that involve a ‘sticky discharge’. Both these claims come from a website entitled ‘Discover Herbal Medicine’, which is run jointly by Walker and her husband, Dr Alan Lakin. Colquhoun backed up his article with excerpts from scientific sources and, to prove his point, included a dialogue on red clover from Walker and Lakin’s website.
Fair enough – or was it? Dr Lakin obviously didn’t think so, as became clear when he contacted the Provost threatening to sue UCL for defamation and copyright infringement. However, this wasn’t quite enough for Lakin, who also complained, bizarrely, of a breach of the Data Protection Act and wrote to UCL Council asking for a paper to be circulated noting Colquhoun’s alleged “misuse” of College IT resources.
Excommunication
When the Provost (quite rightly) refused to remove the offending material, Lakin called in the lawyers and issued UCL with a pre-action protocol for defamation proceedings. Quickly bowing to the pressure, Grant phoned Colquhoun and asked him to remove his blog from the UCL servers – in fact, Grant even went as far as to suggest that Colquhoun pretend he had removed the blog “voluntarily”. Colquhoun had been excommunicated in order to protect the College, and to all intents and purposes it seemed that the herbalists had won.
Media attention
However, Grant’s timorous response caught the attention of the national press, and soon the stream of blogs on the Guardian website translated into what Ben Goldacre describes as “a gratifying avalanche of letters” in Colquhoun’s defence. Colquhoun recalls that, once Grant had “taken an entire weekend off” to reply to the letters, he decided to take advice from a defamation lawyer.
Lily-livered
Colquhoun’s website has now been restored, albeit with a few changes such as the replacement of a picture of red clover taken from Walker and Lakin’s website, which Lakin had previously asked UCL to remove ‘as a matter of urgency’. Having successfully chastened the lily-livered Provost, the ‘blogosphere’ has now turned to the ritual humiliation of Ann Walker’s dubious works, thus turning what was previously an isolated censure of Walker’s opinions into a worldwide humiliation. Ironic, really, when you consider that Dr Lakin’s letter to Malcolm Grant stated that “we cannot have my wife’s reputation damaged in this way.”