The pressure on the UK Home Secretary over his sacking of an independent science advisor dramatically increased today, with both politicians and other advisors wading into ‘Nutt-gate’.
David Nutt was the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs until last week, when he was fired by Alan Johnson. Two members of the ACMD have already resigned in protest and today a who’s who of other advisors and leading scientists have signed up for a new set of Principles for the Treatment of Independent Scientific Advice.
Johnson has also been asked to explain himself to the influential cross party Parliamentary science committee. Phil Willis, the committee chair has written to Johnson, Nutt and the government’s chief science advisor John Beddington to ask for their accounts of the recent events.
Colin Blakemore, who is both a current advisor and former chief executive of the Medical Research Council, was one of those behind the new principles document.
“The priority now must be to rebuild the confidence of the scientific community in the way the Government, and indeed the Opposition parties, treat scientific advice and those who provide it,” he says. “If the Government can sign up to this statement, which essentially summarises commitments that have been made in the past, I hope that we can press the ‘reset’ button on the relationship.”
The new statement calls for three basic principles:
Academic freedom – “becoming a member of an independent advisory committee does not reduce the freedom of an adviser to communicate publicly”
Independence of Operation – “Independent scientific advisory bodies are protected from political and other interference in their work”
Proper Consideration of Advice – “It is recognised that some policy decisions are contingent on factors other than the scientific evidence, but when expert scientific advice is rejected the reasons should be described explicitly and publicly”
In the Times today, another signatory of the letter, president of the Royal Society Martin Rees, writes, “The sacking of David Nutt as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and the ensuing debate, have left wounds in the relationship between scientists and the Government. In the interests of all, these wounds must not fester. … A clear statement from the top of government is required to reassure scientists in the advisory structure that what they are doing is important and that their independence is respected.”
Previous Nutt News
Nutt-gate rolls on – 04 November 2009
Cracks show in government over Nutt-gate – 03 November 2009
Sacked science adviser speaks out – 2 November 2009
Government sacks independent drugs advisor – 30 October 2009
UK government vs its own drugs advisor, Part II – 29 October 2009
Ecstasy advice is a bitter pill – 12 February 2009
Love drug gets politicians fighting – 09 February 2009
Image: Alan Johnson / detail from photo by catch21productions via Flickr under creative commons