January 20, 2011 — The medical establishment “closed ranks” to protect Andrew Wakefield, the researcher whose 1998 study linked the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, according to a third and final article of a special investigative series published online January 18 in the BMJ.

UK journalist Brian Deer alleges that when he approached The Lancet editor Richard Horton in 2004 with concerns about potential issues of research fraud, conflicts of interest, and unethical treatment of children discovered while researching an article about the study for the Sunday Times, The Lancet failed to ensure that a formal, independent investigation was conducted.

In his most recent BMJ article, Mr. Deer writes that failure to conduct such an investigation and the series of denials issued by Mr. Wakefield, his coauthors, and the Royal Free Hospital led to the public being “misled for 6 years” about the credibility of the article before The Lancet finally retracted it in February 2010.

“That’s really the nubbin of this story — the failing of The Lancet and the Royal Free to investigate adequately when questions were raised back in 2004,” Fiona Godlee, MD, BMJ editor-in-chief, told Medscape Medical News.

Read article here: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/01/24/vaccine-autism-researcher-p...