Retracted autism study an 'elaborate fraud,' British journal finds

From CNN.com (Jan. 6):

A now-retracted British study that linked autism to childhood vaccines was an "elaborate fraud" that has done long-lasting damage to public health, a leading medical publication reported Wednesday.

An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible.

"It's one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors," Fiona Godlee, BMJ's editor-in-chief, told CNN. "But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data." [read more]

It’s one thing if scientists make human errors when doing a study, but it’s a completely different matter when they deliberately falsify data. Governmental policies are made from scientific studies. Bad studies lead to bad policies. Politicians and the public who are not an expert in the field of a specific science trust the study. 

Once upon a time science was about finding the truth. Early scientists wanted to know the mind of God when they were searching for the truth. Now it seems sadly that modern scientists are about politics,  money and/or status (read: to get published in a major science journal). Truth is not a priority anymore. I really hope that trend doesn’t continue or science will get a bad reputation and no-one will trust it anymore.