The prestigious medical journal Lancet has retracted a study linking the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine to autism. In a statement explaining its retraction of Wakefield’s paper, the Lancet said, “Following the judgment of the U.K. General Medical Council’s Fitness to Practice Panel on Jan. 28, 2010, it has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Wakefield et al are incorrect … in particular, the claims in the original paper that children were ‘consecutively referred’ and that investigations were ‘approved’ by the local ethics committee have been proven to be false. Therefore we fully retract this paper from the published record.”

Will this really affect the way people view vaccinations? Although study after study has disproved the link between vaccines and autism, many people still feel that there is a link. Actress Jenny McCarthy has been very outspoken about her son and the change that occurred to him after his vaccinations.  She has even written a book about what she did nutritionally to help her son. Everyday I speak to parents who know in their hearts that their child is autistic or on the autism spectrum because of vaccinations.

As a mother to an infant son, I am now facing the decision to vaccinate or not to vaccinate.  I can tell you this, no matter what I decide, it will definitely be something that I will think long and hard about. One retracted study does not clear the questions or concerns that I have about vaccinations.

Tags: autism, MMR, vaccinations

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 9:18 pm and is filed under Health Concerns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Lancet Retracts 1998 Study About Autism”

1. texas says:

   March 2, 2010 at 3:26 pm

   Many people assume autism is a disease. Is being left handed a disease? How about being good at math but bad at spelling. Autism is a spectrum. People on the left hand side of it function in most ways far above average. Those on the right, not so much.