MMR - UK

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>>From: " jackie@jabs " <jackie@...>

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With thanks to Nigel for typing this article.

PRIVATE EYE 2 April - 15 April 2004

MMR

Library lifeline

The continuing controversy over the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) triple

vaccine has prompted calls for an international vaccine safety library to

be set up to help parents, guardians and recipients of vaccines.

The proposal in last week's Lancet comes from Dr Tom Jefferson,

coordinator of the highly regarded Cochrane Vaccines Field in Rome. Last

year he and others published a review on the evidence of MMR vaccine

safety. It concluded that " current evidence made an association between MMR

and autism unlikely " , but it found that most studies did not answer the

question and the handful that did " exhibited fundamental methodological

weaknesses. "

In his call for a database independent of government, he says

that none of the studies was published with a warning of its limitations

" which may call into question publishing journals' grasp of the

epidemiological and statistical issues raised. "

One of the biggest limits on using existing data to answer the

autism question was that the original field trials were not run long

enough, and the universal nature of the vaccination programme meant that

getting a credible " control group " of unvaccinated children was now all but

impossible.

Jefferson says that by pooling every piece of evidence from

published studies, technical reports, researchers' files and institutional

archives would help minimise loss of important data and " maximise our

chances of giving scientifically credible and timely answers to future

allegations " . " Most of all, evidence needs to be analysed and interpreted

in an unbiased manner to allow those who receive vaccines or their

guardians to make an informed choice, " he said.

His proposal is already gaining support. Pulse magazine

reported that GPs were in favour, as was Hincliffe, chair of the

Commons health committee.

The initiative comes as it emerged that lawyers involved in the

MMR legal action believed they would have succeeded in their claim against

the vaccine manufacturers had they proceeded exclusively on the gut disease

suffered by the children. More work needed to be done if they were ever to

show an association with autism.

A report about the future legal aid funding said: " There is a

broad measure of support for Dr Wakefield's evidence on the

gastroenterological case. " It concluded: " Given that the measles virus is

capable of causing inflammation and the presence of the virus at the

location of the inflammation, and the absence of any other cause of the

inflammation, we consider that it is probable that the new variant bowel

disease is being driven by the vaccine strain measles virus " .

By Foot. From Private Eye. No.1103. 2nd April - 15th April 2004.