From dean: For a little over a decade, some parents have neglected to vaccinate their children due to fears that vaccines increase the child's risk of autism. Finally, the Lancet, one of the premier medical journals in the world, has retracted its publication that lead to this conclusion. Meaning: (1) the science was not sound, misrepresented, and/or falsified, and (2) those medical researchers will never work in this town again. This is a big day for public health.
Um, can anyone point to where the actual science was off. All I saw was an ethical violation regarding use of children in this article. That would seem to be societal in nature, not scientific.
It highlighted, for example, assertions that investigations of children for the study were "approved" by the local ethics committee.
There's more at CNN.
The General Medical Council, which oversees doctors in Britain, said that "there was a biased selection of patients in The Lancet paper" and that his "conduct in this regard was dishonest and irresponsible."
The GMC review is what prompted the paper's withdrawl.
Wikipedia has a lot more info on the history/timeline.
