In the Wake of Wakefield
Seriously...27 Feb 2018

In the Wake of Wakefield

Twenty years ago, in February 1998, one of the most serious public health scandals of the 20th century was born, when researcher, Andrew Wakefield and his co-authors published a paper in the medical journal The Lancet suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. As we know, in the years that followed, Wakefield's paper was completely discredited as "an elaborate fraud" and retracted. Attempts by many other researchers to replicate his "findings" have all failed and investigations unearthed commercial links and conflicts of interests underpinning his original work. Wakefield himself was struck off the medical register.

And yet, the ripples of that episode are still being felt today all over the world as a resurgent anti-vaccine movement continues to drive down inoculation rates, particularly in developed Western societies, where measles rates have rocketed particularly in Europe and the United States.

But the Wakefield scandal hasn't just fostered the current ant-vax movement but has played a key role in helping to undermine trust in a host of scientific disciplines from public health research to climate science and GM technology.

Through the archive, science journalist Adam Rutherford explores the continuing legacy of the anti-vaccine movement on the anniversary of one of its most notorious episodes, and explore its impact on health, on research and on culture both at home and abroad.

Episoder(484)

Searching for Cosmic Dust

Searching for Cosmic Dust

Norwegian jazz musician Jon Larsen was having breakfast one clear spring morning when he noticed a tiny black speck land on his clean, white table. With no wind, birds or planes in sight, he wondered ...

16 Jun 202329min

The Boy in the Peking Hotel

The Boy in the Peking Hotel

When 8 year old Kim Gordon set off for China in 1965, it set in train a tale of passion, imagination and still unanswered questions. Kim’s parents were committed communists in the thick of Mao’s cultu...

6 Jun 202329min

Does the Irish Republic Want Reunification?

Does the Irish Republic Want Reunification?

25 years since the people of both Northern Ireland and the Republic voted to accept the Good Friday Agreement, another potential referendum looms on the distant horizon. That Agreement, though primari...

2 Jun 202329min

Supersenses - Episode 1

Supersenses - Episode 1

We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not o...

30 Mai 202329min

Is Psychiatry Working? - Anxiety Special

Is Psychiatry Working? - Anxiety Special

In a special episode to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, writer Horatio Clare and psychiatrist Femi Oyebode consider the purpose of anxiety, and how it can manifest in different ways. They look at w...

26 Mai 202328min

Buying a British Dad

Buying a British Dad

You can buy almost everything on social media – how about a British dad for your child? A year long BBC investigation has uncovered a brazen illegal immigration scam in which pregnant migrant women wh...

23 Mai 202328min

The Truth Police

The Truth Police

For years, science has had a dirty secret; research has been dogged by claims and instances of fraud, malpractice and outright incompetence. Suspicious-looking data sets, breakthrough results that can...

16 Mai 202328min

Magic Consultants - Episode 1

Magic Consultants - Episode 1

Adam Shaw peeks behind the curtain of the consultancy industry. Worth hundreds of billions of pounds, consultants stretch across almost every industry, government department and international border.S...

1 Mai 202315min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
konspirasjonspodden
popradet
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
grenselos
wolfgang-wee-uncut
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
fladseth
frokostshowet-pa-p5
alt-fortalt
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem