MMR and other controversies

Following the GMC’s judgment, the Lancet has retracted the paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues that in 1998 linked the MMR vaccine to autism and bowel disease (doi:10.1136/bmj.c696). Last week’s judgment on Wakefield and two of his co-authors was damning, both of the researchers’ unethical conduct and of their dishonest and misleading reporting of the study (doi:10.1136/bmj.c593). In our observation columns this week, Trish Greenhalgh gives her view on why retraction was needed (doi:10.1136/bmj.c644).We also hear from Brian Deer, whose journalistic investigation forced a partial retraction in 2004 and ultimately led to this longest ever GMC hearing (doi:10.1136/bmj.c672). …