Apparently, in the UK, measles cases are on the rise. This is seemingly because fewer people are having their children vaccinated. Why are fewer children getting vaccines? It's thanks to Jenny McCarthy and her ilk.
Jenny along with her cohorts, believe that vaccines gave their children autism. While the scientific community has shown over and over again that vaccines DO NOT cause autism. But because Jenny is famous and can easily spout off pseudo-science to a large audience (and that audience typically doesn't have the critical thinking skills needed to sift through such crap!), she and her followers are posing a danger to public health and most importantly, their children.
The following story from the BBC is a report on the rise in measles cases in the UK. While correlation is not causation, the rise in measles cases is seemingly related to fewer children getting vaccines. Another statistic to note is that countries that stop vaccinations do not see a drop in autism rates. Once again, correlation is not causation but it is something to take note of and to try and understand. So far the scientific community has determined that vaccines do not cause autism and it is possibly a genetic disorder. Why children have autism and it's causes are still unknown, but we do know that vaccines are not the cause.
BBC News Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7819874.stm
Also, for more information you may want to check out Steve Novella's (he's a MD) Blog:
http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=444
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