In 1998, The Lancet published an article by Andrew Wakefield and others, whose small study seemed to support a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Recently, after no other studies have been able to replicate this link, and vaccine rates plummeted in the UK especially, Wakefield has been condemned by the General Medical Council in the UK as acting "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in his research methods. Ten of his co-authors on the original paper have withdrawn support for the study and the Lancet has retracted the article.
ABC Radio National's Rear Vision program on 24 February broadcast a fascinating insight into how the whole story evolved and revealed how Wakefield's research came to be questioned and eventually condemned. Wakefield himself still stands by his research and his side of the story is available at http://www.autismfile.com/Papers/
You can find the abstract of the original Lancet paper here, and the full text through CIAP or by contacting your library.
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