WHAT should researchers do if they think they have found evidence that a vaccine or medicine has bad side effects? Indisputably, they should alert others so their concerns can be investigated. It seems strange, then, that the charge of serious professional misconduct is about to be levelled at Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who published research showing an association between autism in children and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR). Among the charges reportedly being prepared by the General Medical Council (GMC), which oversees UK doctors, is that Wakefield published “inadequately founded” research.
The work in question, published in …
