From the Omaha World-Herald today, noting that US cases of measles have gone up dramatically, due to lack of vaccination, which in turn is due to parents' fears that "MMR" (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine causes autism:
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The notion of a link received its biggest boost in the late 1990s when a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, published a paper in the Lancet, a prestigious medical journal. His research suggested that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccination could cause autism in children.
But Wakefield's research ultimately was found to be fraudulent, the Lancet retracted his paper, and he was stripped of his medical license in Great Britain.
Wakefield's claim "was enough to set the ball rolling for what unfolded over the next couple of decades," said Dr. Thomas Wassink, co-director of the Children's Hospital Autism Center at the University of Iowa. "You realize how hard it is to undo the damage that's been done."
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This discounted, discredited, fraud of a "scientist" has caused a lot of needless pain and suffering.
Very sad.
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The notion of a link received its biggest boost in the late 1990s when a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, published a paper in the Lancet, a prestigious medical journal. His research suggested that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccination could cause autism in children.
But Wakefield's research ultimately was found to be fraudulent, the Lancet retracted his paper, and he was stripped of his medical license in Great Britain.
Wakefield's claim "was enough to set the ball rolling for what unfolded over the next couple of decades," said Dr. Thomas Wassink, co-director of the Children's Hospital Autism Center at the University of Iowa. "You realize how hard it is to undo the damage that's been done."
*******************************************
This discounted, discredited, fraud of a "scientist" has caused a lot of needless pain and suffering.
Very sad.