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Lancet Retracts 12-Year-Old Article Linking Autism To MMR Vaccines

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CMAJ News

Lancet retracts 12-year-old article linking autism to MMR


vaccines
Published at www.cmaj.ca on Feb. 4

T
welve years after publishing a
landmark study that turned tens
of thousands of parents around
the world against the measles, mumps
and rubella (MMR) vaccine because
of an implied link between vaccina-
tions and autism, The Lancet has
retracted the paper.
In a statement published on Feb. 2,
the British medical journal said that it is
now clear that “several elements” of a
1998 paper it published by Dr. Andrew
Wakefield and his colleagues (Lancet
1998;351[9103]:637-41) “are incorrect,
Reuters/Luke MacGregor

contrary to the findings of an earlier


investigation.”
Dr. Richard Horton, editor of The
Lancet, declined through a spokesper-
son to speak to CMAJ about this issue.
In the original paper, Wakefield and
Dr. Andrew Wakefield speaks to media in London, England on Jan. 28 after the Gen-
12 coauthors claimed to have investi- eral Medical Council ruled that he acted unethically in doing his research into a link
gated “a consecutive series” of 12 chil- between Measles Mumps Rubella vaccinations and autism.
dren referred to the Royal Free Hospital
and School of Medicine with chronic
enterocolitis and regressive develop- were fuelled by speeches and public measles outbreak in 2008 and 2009 to a
mental disorder. The authors reported appearances in which Wakefield rec- concurrent drop in the number of chil-
that the parents of eight of the 12 chil- ommended single vaccines rather than dren receiving the MMR vaccine. Pock-
dren associated their loss of acquired the combined MMR. Many parents ets of measles — which can be fatal —
skills, including language, with the seeking a cause for their children’s ill- have also cropped up in Canada and the
MMR vaccination. The authors con- ness seized upon the apparent link United States as a result of parents’
cluded that “possible environmental between the routine vaccination and refusal to vaccinate.
triggers” (i.e. the vaccine) were associ- autism, say Canadian researchers who “In the course of my discussions
ated with the onset of both the gastroin- laud the retraction. with families it’s almost invariable that
testinal disease and developmental “I think a lot of families were look- the measles question comes into play,”
regression. ing for a reason, so they were extremely says Dr. Suzanne Lewis, a pediatrician
In fact, as Britain’s General Medical vulnerable (to this explanation),” says and clinical professor of medical genet-
Council ruled in January, the children that Jeanette Holden, a geneticist at Queen’s ics at the University of British Colum-
Wakefield studied were carefully selected University in Kingston, Ontario. bia in Vancouver.
and some of Wakefield’s research was Holden, whose brother is autistic, heads “I was quite thankful to see the
funded by lawyers acting for parents who the Autism Spectrum Disorders — retraction — it’s long overdue,” she
were involved in lawsuits against vaccine Canadian–American Research Consor- adds.
manufacturers. The council found Wake- tium. Both Holden and Lewis, who is also
field had acted unethically and had “The problem is that this had dra- a member of the Autism Spectrum Dis-
shown “callous disregard” for the chil- matic health consequences, which was orders — Canadian–American Research
dren in his study, upon whom invasive that people just didn’t vaccinate their Consortium, questioned the article’s
tests were performed. children,” she adds. original heft, given its small sample size.
When the original article was picked In the United Kingdom, the Health “Why The Lancet published it is
up by the general media, the findings Protection Agency attributed a large completely beyond me,” Lewis says.

CMAJ • MARCH 9, 2010 • 182(4) E199


© 2010 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

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