I really do want to get off this topic, but until such time as we have the pleasure of reading an apology from Jean-Claude or anyone at ESF (I’m assuming that J-C did not go rogue on this, like some Eurocrat Jack Bauer) it is important not to let this slide.

Ivan Oransky over at one of the most useful science blogs on the web, Retraction Watch, has confirmed the original report at De Rerum Natura that the ESF official has indeed threatened Dr Maya-Moro with legal action for her opinion piece in Nature and added that:

“Moro-Martin said she had been asked by Nature not to comment until they had looked into the issue, which seems quite reasonable. Nature won a hard-fought battle against a libel claim just recently, and they called attention to the growth of “lawyering up” by scientists in an editorial just last week. Worms has not responded to our request for comment.”

Retraction Watch of course throw in their 2 cents, which follow common-sense:

“The idea that calling a process “flawed” is slanderous is just ridiculous. What evaluation process is so perfect that calling it flawed is not a reasonable opinion?“

Elsewhere on the internet, including the Nature comment page, the I-am-Spartacus response to the ESF’s truculence continues to grow. Well done. You’ve protected your brand.