Journal says report linking vaccine and austim is a fraud

By Staff Writer

A decade-old report that linked childhood vaccines to autism is fraudulent, according to the same journal that originally printed the study.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has retracted a 1998 report claiming that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine could lead to autism in kids. This week, the BMJ published a statement that said the report was based on false information.

The 1998 study prompted parents all over the world to avoid shots at the doctor's office. According to The Associated Press, immunization rates in the UK dropped from 92 percent to 73 percent because of the report. In the U.S., approximately 125,000 children born in the late 1990s did not get the MMR vaccine because of the report.

However, some advocacy groups are supporting the original report despite the BMJ's latest statements. An infection disease expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia told the news source that until society has a clear understanding of what causes autism, many parents will remain wary of immunizations.

According to the AP, a total of 10 of the article's 13 authors have renounced their 1998 report. Many parents were unaware that the report ever existed, but took hold of the widespread notion that vaccines caused autism.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that an average of one in 110 children in the U.S. have autism.