Lancet Retracts Controversial 1998 Study Linking Autism and Vaccines
After stirring controversy in medical circles for more than a decade, the inflammatory findings that a routine childhood immunization is linked to gastrointestinal disease and autism has been formally retracted. The Lancet -- the esteemed British medical journal that published the findings -- has pulled the case study from its published record, its editor calling the paper "the most appalling catalog and litany of some the most terrible behavior in any research." The study was submitted by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who found in what is now an infamous case study that 12 children may have developed a new form of autism as a result of a childhood measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Wakefield's findings showed that by combining measles, mumps and rebella vaccines into a single potent inoculation, the vaccine weakened the immune system, causing damage to the gastrointestinal system that eventually led to autism-spectrum disorders. As a result, a fierce debate...