By Jason Hopps
London - A British MP has called for an independent inquiry into controversial research linking a triple vaccine for infants to autism after a medical journal said it should never have published the 1998 study.
The Lancet medical journal said it had learned of a "fatal conflict of interest" with the researcher at the centre of the study, which led parents to reject a combined vaccine for mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) because of links to autism and bowl disease.
Fears over the single inoculation - used in the UK since 1988 and in the United States for more than 30 years - led to a steep drop in the number of British children being vaccinated and has been blamed for outbreaks of measles in various parts of the country.
Despite reassurances from the government and top doctors many panicked parents demanded to be given the choice between the single dose vaccine and giving their children three separate jabs to protect their children from the three diseases.
Richard Horton, the editor of the Lancet, told BBC News it had learned of a "fatal of conflict interest" with researcher Andrew Wakefield.
The journal said Wakefield had not told Lancet editors he was also carrying out a study for the Legal Aid Board on behalf of parents who believed the vaccine had harmed their children.
"In my view, if we had known the conflict of interest Dr Wakefield had in this work, I think that would have strongly affected the peer reviewers about the credibility of this work, and in my judgement it would have been rejected," Horton said.
Wakefield told the BBC on Friday he stood behind his findings.
"They have now been confirmed independently by reputable physicians and pathologists," he said.
But a Liberal Democrat MP on Saturday called for a wider inquiry into the research and why it was published.
"Those involved will not be able to clear their names without there being an independent inquiry because the Lancet can't really investigate itself," Member of Parliament Evan Harris told Sky News.
"We do need a wider inquiry because there's the important issue whether patients have confidence in MMR, which they should, but every time they see a story like this it worries them," he said.
Health Secretary John Reid said the issue should be left to the General Medical Council (GMC), which has legal powers to investigate doctors and protect public health.
"This alleged conflict of interest is a matter for the GMC," Reid said. "I am sure they will want to look into this as a matter of urgency."
An independent review of research into the MMR vaccine by British doctors published in 2002 found no evidence of it causing autism or bowel disease.