 In a 15-page statement released to the press, the Church of Scientology called the book "a bigoted, defamatory assault replete with lies".The book was not published in the UK, Australia or New Zealand due to strict libel laws in those countries.Government criticism of the Church of Scientology was begun by a Victorian public servant, Eric Cunningham Dax, the founding chairman of the Mental Hygiene Authority of Victoria (later known as the Mental Health Authority).