"Inside the vaccine-autism scare"

Source: Sandra G. Boodman, The Washington Post, January 16, 2011

I quote:

Opposition to childhood vaccines simmered mostly on the fringes until 1998, when London gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield co-authored a study in the British medical journal Lancet linking autism to the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot. Although his research was immediately challenged, it was not until last year that the study was retracted and Wakefield stripped of his medical license. Two weeks ago the British Medical Journal published an investigative article on the study, as well as an editorial calling it "an elaborate fraud" based on falsified data. The influential journal reported that crucial details in the case histories of the dozen children included in Wakefield's report had been altered or were misrepresented.

I would suggest that the British justice system consider charges against Mr. Wakefield based on the impact his publication has had in convincing parents to withhold vital preventive immunization from their children.