Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Medical journal 'Lancet' retracts study linking vaccines to autism

The prestigious British medical journal The Lancet has retracted a flawed study linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism and bowel disease.

The journal published the controversial paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues in 1998. That, in turn, prompted many British parents to abandon the vaccine, leading to a resurgence of measles.

Subsequent studies found no proof the vaccine is connected to autism.

The retraction comes only a week after Britain's General Medical Council ruled that Wakefield had been dishonest and unethical in gathering data for his study.

Richard Horton, the journal's editor, tells The Guardian today that the GMC's ruling left no doubt that the paper had to be pulled.

"It was utterly clear, without any ambiguity at all, that the statements in the paper were utterly false," he told The Guardian. "I feel I was deceived."

Wakefield and two colleagues were face being stripped of their right to practice medicine in Britain.

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