British Medical Journal Retracts Study Linking Vaccines and Autism

As someone who is about to become a parent for the very first time in two short months, I can tell you that it's both really exciting and really scary. And nothing scares me more than the subject of vaccines. There has been so much written about the purported link between vaccines and autism that at times I feel I either have to choose between inoculating him again some pretty scary-sounding diseases or put him at serious risk for autism.

Although the mainstream medical community — including the American Academy of Pediatrics — has already pretty much debunked the link between the mercury in vaccines and a link to autism, there's still so much contradictary anecdotal evidence floating around that it can give a parent-to-be like me the jitters.

But today comes some information that gives me, and hopefully scores of other parents and soon-to-be-parents, a reason to breathe easier: The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, has officially retracted a 1998 study suggesting a link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

According to Forbes.com, the retraction comes just a week after the UK's General Medical Council, which regulates and registers doctors, declared that lead author Andrew Wakefield had brought the medical profession "into disrepute" by presenting his research in an "irresponsible and dishonest" way.

Although Forbes criticizes the Lancet for its "incomprehensible" retraction not written in layman's terms, Lancet editor Richard Horton seemed quite unambiguous about their position when interviewed by The Guardian this week.

"It was utterly clear, without any ambiguity at all, that the statements in the paper were utterly false," Horton said in reference to the General Medical Council's finding. "I feel I was deceived."

So while this news might not satisfy the many who still believe in a link between autism and vaccines, at least it's one more well-respected journal to consider as we parents and parents-to-be muddle through all the information out there and try to make the best choices we can for our children.

Click here to read more of Tonic's autism coverage.

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