Speaking of blood, my friend Andy Marshall, the editor of Nature Biotechnology, told me the other day that he’s been mentioned at the British Parliament, no less.

Unfortunately, the British Commons did not bring him up to praise his contributions to the advancement of science. Instead, this past week they released an Early Day Motion (# 425) to regret “the continuing attempts to silence or misrepresent scientists whose research indicates possible human health problems from GM (genetically modified) crops”.

The Motion specifically focuses on the case of Dr Irina Ermakova who, allegedly, “was misled by the editor of Nature Biotechnology into submitting an article to the journal to be published under her name, with the article in fact published under the editor’s name with criticisms by four well-known GM supporters not seen by Dr Ermakova prior to publication”.

I’ve spoken to Andy, and this is not exactly what happened. The article is more of a News Feature/Interview, which is why it’s authored by Andy. Furthermore, Dr. Ermakova has been given a chance to rebut the comments from the other scientists. Her reply will be published on Friday as part of the December issue of Nature Biotechnology.

I don’t want to steal their thunder and would therefore encourage you to read the whole article and the rebuttal once it’s available. The only thing I’ll mention here is another segment of the Motion, which specifically caught my attention. The Motion “calls on the Government Chief Scientist to protect the integrity and objectivity of science by reasserting the right of scientists to have their views published by journals without underhand interference by journal editors, and for the Chief Scientist to encourage journal editors to withdraw papers they have published which subsequently turn out to be grossly misleading or even fraudulent”.

Pretty strong words to use in a case like this one. In any case, I’ve promised Andy that, if he’s sent to prison, I’ll make sure to get him cigarettes, the newspaper and, every month, a copy of Nature Biotechnology.