Twelve years ago, the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet published a study indicating a link between the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine (MMR) and autism. The finding validated the fears of a growing subculture suspicious of vaccines, and played a role in the significant decrease in vaccination rates—in the U.K., for example, MMR vaccinations had reached 92% in 1995, only to drop to 81% by 2004, according to the New Scientist. Yet, in the wake of numerous studies and a U.S. federal court ruling refuting that link and a recent ruling by the U.K.’s General Medical Council (GMC) finding the study’s authors guilty of professional misconduct, yesterday The Lancet announced the official retraction (PDF) of the study.