Good to see that the crack troops at SAS (Sense About Science) have included misguided mumbo jumbo about microdosing in their celebrity slag-off today. Apparently TV actress Jenny Seagrove (of Waitrose ads and Judge John Deed fame) said that microdosing could replace ‘animals and primates’ (so primates are not animals?) in research. Pharmacologist Professor Nancy Rothwell, Vice President for Research at Manchester University and chair of RDS, countered:

The mistake is understandable Jenny, but microdosing is a technique for measuring how small doses of drugs move around the body. It has not yet been properly validated, but in the future it may replace some animal tests. Unfortunately, if we want new medicines for diseases like cancer or cystic fibrosis, there are some cases where there are no alternatives to using animals.

Also animal-rights-inspired was Heather Mills McCartney’s feeble attempt to link milk drinking and obesity. See more nonsense from the celebs, and sense from the scientists, in a leaflet on the SAS website and some excellent reporting by The Guardian and the BBC. The Sun got in the act, too, with Profs Rap Dim Star Comments. Mental images of Professors rapping about astronomy. Hmmm.