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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Final nail?

By: Editorial

Posted: 01/10/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Is it possible to further discredit Andrew Wakefield, a former British surgeon now revealed as a fraudulent researcher? Probably not. Unfortunately, too many will ardently defend his work that warned of a new "syndrome" linking the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine with gastrointestinal disease and autism.

Mr. Wakefield et al published a "study" in the medical journal Lancet in 1998. Within five years, others found his results could not be replicated and the dominoes started falling. Mr. Wakefield did not disclose he was funded by lawyers suing vaccine makers, a huge conflict of interest. Data and facts were falsified.

In the anxious world of injecting babies with viral cocktails, however, it was all too late. Vaccination rates plummeted, children suffered, some died. A British journalist, whose early work led to Mr. Wakefield's downfall, has now published the story in the British Medical Journal, the nail in the coffin.

Medical journals have since tightened their rules, including mandatory disclosures of funding sources and potential conflicts. But the question lingers as to how 12 co-authors could have signed off on such a massive fraud of tainted research. A distinguished journal published obviously alarming findings largely supported by observations in a small sample.

It is instructive to the general profession. More importantly, it is a cautionary tale for everyone tempted to suspend scepticism of single studies awaiting validation.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 10, 2011 A10

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