The BMJ has published the findings of an investigation examining pathology reports that further unmask how the fraudulent links between the MMR vaccine, autism, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), were created by Wakefield and co. This new material shows an attempt by Wakefield to prove that the MMR vaccine caused a “new variant” IBD.

An accompanying commentary based on consultation with several clinical and histopathology specialists came to an overwhelming and uniform opinion that these reports do not show colitis.

An editorial states that it is not only Wakefield and UCL’s administrators who have a case to answer; this new information puts the spotlight on Wakefield’s coauthors and raises the following wider concerns:

• What does this tell us about the prevailing culture of our academic institutions and attitudes to the integrity of their output?

• What safeguards are in place to prevent and expose institutional conflicts of interest in the future?

• Why does the UK still have no publicly accountable and adequately resourced mechanism for investigating allegations of research misconduct?

The editorial concludes “after the effort and time it has taken to crack the secrets of the MMR scare, and the enormous harm it has caused to public health, it would compound the scandal not to heed the warnings from this catastrophic example of wrongdoing.”