Around the World: United Kingdom

Autism paper retracted

The Lancet medical journal formally retracted a paper yesterday that caused a 12-year international battle over links between the three-in-one childhood vaccine MMR and autism.

The paper, published in 1998 and written by British doctor Andrew Wakefield, suggested the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot might be linked to autism and bowel disease. His assertion caused one of the biggest medical rows in a generation and led to a big fall in the number of vaccinations, prompting a worrying rise in cases of measles.