The whole "vaccines cause autism" thing made a huge impact , even though the study was hugely flawed, the numbers manipulated, and the paper retracted. But the damage was done and there are still people that latch on to the idea.
omg I thought the autism thing was disproved ages ago? Like, I remember reading something about it when I was in middle school. Seriously tho this situation is so.... uneducated??? I'm just so shocked that this is an issue at all,Ā it's horrifying what the media is capable of, though. To think the media can take a story just for the shock value, without proper background and people will suffer for it.Ā
I mean, I always thought of these things (media and public reactions causing harm to innocent people) in relation to violent crimes, and public protests etc, it scared me that it may so easily apply to science and the misuse there of.Ā