Lancet accepts MMR study 'false,' as research leader found to have broken rules

The prestigious British medical journal The Lancet, which originally published the discredited research linking autism and bowel disease and the childhood MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine - and which caused vaccination rates in the UK to plummet, resulting in a rise in measles - has now issued a full retraction of the paper. The Lancet said it now accepted claims made by the researchers were "false."

The move comes after Andrew Wakefield, the lead researcher in the 1998 paper, was ruled last week to have broken research rules by the General Medical Council. Last week, the GMC ruled that Dr Wakefield had shown a "callous disregard" for children and acted "dishonestly" while he carried out his research. It will decide later whether to strike him off the medical register. Immunization rates plunged in the U.K. to less than 80% by 2003.

The retraction by The Lancet comes a day after a competing publication, The British Medical Journal, issued an embargoed commentary calling for The Lancet to formally retract the study.