Scientists protest against proposals on advisory group membership

Some of the United Kingdom’s most eminent scientists are at loggerheads with the government over its attempt to defuse the row which erupted after the home secretary, Alan Johnson, sacked David Nutt as chairman of the government’s advisory council on the misuse of drugs.

There was an outcry from leading scientists when Professor Nutt was dismissed last October after asserting in an academic lecture that cannabis and ecstasy were less dangerous than alcohol (BMJ 3 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4563). After other members of the committee resigned in protest, the government promised to consult on new principles governing its relationship with members of its advisory groups, who are not government employees but give their …