Investigative journalist Brian Deer talks with EconTalk

host Russ Roberts about Deer's seven years of reporting and legal issues

surrounding the 1998 article in The Lancet claiming that the MMR vaccine

causes autism and bowel problems. Deer's dogged pursuit of the truth led

to the discovery that the 1998 article was fraudulent and that the lead

author had hidden payments he received from lawyers to finance the

original study. In this podcast, Deer describes how he uncovered the

truth and the legal consequences that followed. The conversation closes

with a discussion of the elusiveness of truth in science and medicine.