Authors
retract MMR-autism finding after newspaper
investigation nails research
This page is
research from an investigation by Brian Deer for The Sunday Times of London and
the UK's Channel 4 Television into a campaign
linking the MMR children's
vaccine with autism. | Go to part I:
The Lancet scandal | Go to part II:
The Wakefield factor
On Wednesday
March 3 2004 - ten days after a four month
investigation by Brian Deer was published in The
Sunday Times of London - ten of the 13 authors of
the February 1998 Lancet paper which had
triggered the worldwide MMR scare formally
withdrew their claim of having found a possible
MMR-autism link. The paper's first author, Andrew Wakefield, was not among them
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
LONDON - Most of the scientists involved in
widely discredited 1998 study suggesting a
link between childhood vaccinations and
autism have renounced the conclusion.
Ten of the study's 13 authors have signed a
formal retraction, the text of which was
released Wednesday by The Lancet ahead of its
publication later this week in the British
medical journal.
The retraction follows the recent revelation
that the main author was being paid
separately by lawyers for parents who claimed
their children were harmed by the
immunizations. Some of the children involved
in the lawsuit were also involved in the
study.
The study undermined public confidence in the
triple vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella
by suggesting it might be linked to autism.
MMR vaccination rates fell dramatically in
Britain and several other European nations
and have yet to recover, although subsequent
studies dismissed a connection between autism
and the vaccine. "We wish to make it
clear that in this paper no causal link was
established between (the) vaccine and autism,
as the data were insufficient. However, the
possibility of such a link was raised,"
the scientists said in the retraction.
"Consequent events have had major
implications for public health. In view of
this, we consider now is the appropriate time
that we should together formally retract the
interpretation placed on these findings in
the paper," the group wrote.
The study, involving 12 children, was
conducted about eight years after they had
been vaccinated and was based in large part
on parents remembering whether the autism
symptoms occurred around the same time as the
shots.
The main author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who at
the time was working at the Royal Free
Hospital in London, is among those who have
not signed the retraction. He could not be
reached for comment. However, he has
continued to insist the study was valid,
despite the findings of authoritative groups
such as the World Health Organization and the
U.S. Institute of Medicine.
The scientists signing the retraction work
for institutions that include the Royal Free
Hospital, the Institute of Child Health in
Liverpool, England, and Cambridge University.
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