Science
10 July 2009  Vol 325, Issue 5937, Pages 117-232
http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl

News of the Week
Scientific Community:
Resignations Highlight Disagreement On Vaccines in Autism Group
Erik Stokstad

A prominent member of the science advisory board for Autism Speaks, the largest private funder of autism research, resigned last week citing his disagreement with efforts to study vaccines as a possible cause of autism. Eric London, a psychiatrist and chief science advisor for the New York State Autism Consortium, says that funding such research, in addition to being wasteful, unduly heightens parents’ concerns about the safety of immunization. London’s departure is a sign of growing frustration in the research community, says Alison Singer, a former high-ranking leader of Autism Speaks who resigned from the group in January.