Public accountability: one rule for practitioners, one for scientists?

The article discusses issues related to the public accountability of general practitioners and scientists. In Great Britain, a series of cases has called into question the degree to which health care professionals can be trusted. The 1998 scientific report about the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine resulted in an understandable anxiety among parents and a consequent fall in immunization rates, shows that the actions of researchers and scientists can have an impact on the health of the public.