Have you heard the one about how the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) shot causes autism?  Most everyone has, thanks to the internet and celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy and Oprah. If you do a google search on the subject, the majority of the sites that come up tell you that the vaccine causes autism.  This stems from a 1998 article by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and 12 other authors that was published in The Lancet.  The Lancet is a reputable medical journal in the UK.  In the article, Dr. Wakefield is careful never to say outright that the MMR causes autism and gastrointestinal problems but that is the conclusion that anyone reading the paper would draw.

This research has had many problems since it was published.  10 of the 13 authors took their names off the paper because they did not want to be associated with it.  No one has ever been able to copy the research and get the same results.  More importantly, many well-done studies involving lots of children have conclusively shown that the MMR vaccine has nothing to with autism or gastrointestinal problems. 

In 2004, the General Medical Council (The UK’s medical regulating board) started an investigation into Dr. Wakefield and his research after reports of possible ethical problems.  On January 28th, 2010 their conclusions were released in a 143 page report.  The General Medical Council (GMC) found that Dr. Wakefield took money from a lawyer who was planning to sue vaccine manufacturers for MMR/autism cases.  Dr. Wakefield never disclosed this in his article.  Dr. Wakefield also chose not to get ethics board approval for his research, which is a normal practice. Many of the 12 patients did not meet the requirements that were set for the project and he misled readers about how patients were found for the study.  Patients were handpicked instead of referred as he stated in his research. The council stated:  “Your conduct…was dishonest, irresponsible and resulted in a misleading description of the patient population in the Lancet paper” and “the description of the referral process…was irresponsible, misleading and contrary to your duty to ensure that the information in the paper was accurate.”  With these statements, The GMC found that he had engaged in serious professional misconduct and there was even an incident during where it was disclosed that Dr. Wakefield drew blood from children at his son’s birthday party.  In April of 2010, the GMC will decide what penalties to impose and Dr. Wakefield may lose his medical license.

In 2004, an editor of The Lancet called the study “fatally flawed” but no more action was taken after the GMC findings were released.  On February 2, 2010 the article was retracted by The Lancet, admitting that it should never have been published. 

Dr. Wakefield’s shoddy research has done a great disservice to the world’s children and since the research was published immunization rates in some areas have decreased.  As a result, measles and other preventable diseases are making a comeback and many children have gotten sick and some have even died.  Parents who truly want to do what is best for their children have been mislead and confused.  Worst of all, millions of dollars and twelve years have been wasted investigating the research instead of finding the real cause, treatment and cure of a terrible disease.

This should be the last word in the “controversy” since it is not at all controversial to any reasonable person with a scientific background.  However, the people who are convinced beyond all reason that vaccines are bad are rushing to Dr. Wakefield’s defense, such as, Jenny McCarthy who has already released a statement describing how Dr. Wakefield is the target of a great pharmaceutical conspiracy.