URGENT

The Joy of Law

I had not heard of Jeni Barnett until this week, and I cannot thank Ben Goldacre for bringing her to my attention. Unfortunately, Dr. Goldacre posted on his blog a segment from Ms. Barnett's radio show in which:

To illustrate my grave concerns, I posted the relevant segment about MMR from her show, 44 minutes, which a reader kindly excerpted for me from the rest of the three hour programme. It is my view that Jeni Barnett torpedoes her reputation in that audio excerpt so effectively that little explanation is needed.

The lawyers have asked him to take it down.

(a) I think this should be disseminated as widely as possible. After all, if I have to know about Ms. Barnett's remarkably daft views on the MMR vaccine I see no reason why other people shouldn't.

(b) A transcript - suitably annotated to reflect the number, scale, and nature of Ms. Barnett's follies - is more likely to be regarded as a fair comment on a matter of public interest.

(c) Who advertises on LBC? I certainly would not feel comfortable buying a product from unethical companies that promote scaremongering. If someone has a list, perhaps a polite letter-writing campaign to the appropriate PR departments is in order?