Neuroscience For Kids
Paper Linking Vaccines to Autism Retracted
February 17, 2010
Updated September 9, 2014
"Therefore we fully retract this paper from the published record."
The sentence above was written by the editors of the scientific journal The Lancet and published on February 2, 2010. The editors were referring to a 1998 paper that linked the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to autism. The 1998 paper caused many parents to fear vaccines and to stop vaccinating their children. Some celebrities jumped on the anti-vaccine bandwagon even though many scientists did not believe the original research because the paper had several serious methodological errors.
Since the publication of the 1998 paper, many studies have failed to
find to a link between vaccines and autism. Major medical organizations
including the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention,
Institute of Medicine and American
Medical Association agree that there is no relationship between
vaccines and autism and emphasize the importance of vaccinations to
protect public health.
The retraction of the 1998 paper and the failure to find a link between vaccines and autism should NOT stop research to find cures and the cause of autism. Careful science, however, is required to find the proper answers.
References and more information:
- Retraction - Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children, Lancet, published online February 2, 2010.
- Wakefield, A.J., Murch, S.H., Anthony, A., Linnell, J., Casson, D.M., Malik, M., Berelowitz, M., Dhillon, A.P., Thomson, M.A., Harvey, P., Valentine, A., Davies, S.E. and Walker-Smith J.A., Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children, Lancet, 351:637-641, 1998.
- Autism - Neuroscience for Kids
- Autism-Vaccine Myth - NOVA
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