Hear the Silence Information and Request

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More info on the Hear the Silence Campaign.

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JABS PRESS RELEASE - 12/15/03

HEAR THE SILENCE

JABS welcomes the screening of tonight's Channel Five TV docu-drama

" Hear the

Silence " (9.00pm) which is based on real-life parents' stories about the

MMR

vaccination and the controversy surrounding Dr Wakefield and his

research suggesting a possible link between the MMR vaccination and

autism. A

debate follows the programme which JABS had hoped would include the

vaccine policy

officials from the Department of Health. Unfortunately, those

responsible for

vaccination policy declined their invitation to appear. JABS is

disappointed

that the same people who openly criticise the research scientists like

Dr

Wakefield and parent groups did not have the courage and courtesy to put

their case

before the public in this debate.

Since our group was founded in 1994 JABS has been contacted by thousands

of

parents concerned about adverse events following childhood vaccinations

many of

whom have long term serious problems including autistic-like symptoms

and

bowel disorders following MMR vaccines. Some parents have informed us

that their

own GP or consultant was not being effective in treating the child's

long term

diarrhoea/constipation and were desperate to be referred to a specialist

clinic for diagnosis and treatment. Many of these parents were provided

with

information from JABS on how to contact Dr Wakefield at the Royal Free

hospital.

JABS believes the Government's vaccine senior officers have failed to

investigate the children believed to have been damaged. During the

course of a one

hour meeting in 1997 (portrayed in the film) a full list of children,

then

affected, was presented by JABS and the legal representatives to the

Health

Minister, Chief Medical Officer and Principal Medical Officer . We asked

that the

Government should instigate a scientific investigation of the children

believed

to have been damaged which could have been useful on two fronts:

1. To answer the question of MMR safety.

2. If the vaccine was found to be causing harm it may have been possible

to

identify ''at-risk'' groups and this may have led to a screening

programme

which could have improved vaccine safety for all children.

The Health Minister at the time stated she was willing to look at all

scientific evidence but as parents it is very difficult for us to

produce this. That

is why we believe the current claims by the vaccine policy-makers that

there

is no scientific evidence to show the MMR vaccine is unsafe will

continue to be

made. Until the Government investigates children believed to have been

damaged, the ''scientific evidence'' from the DoH is unlikely to change.

The statement that the health secretary, Reid, made on GMTV in

November

03: " It is unequivocal that there is no evidence at all that MMR is

linked to

autism. " needs to be challenged. World experts in the field of virology

and

pathology have replicated results found by Dr Wakefield's team when he

was at

the Royal Free Hospital, London and other independent Japanese

scientists have

also duplicated the findings.

Reid should be reminded that the drug manufacturers of MMR vaccines

have

provided his senior medical advisers with a long list of the adverse

reactions known to be associated with their products. These lists are

virtually

identical from each of the drug companies. They state the minor side

effects which

doctors are happy to share with parents: namely - rashes, raised

temperature

etc. These same sheets also state reactions only recently being publicly

acknowledged by the Health Protection Agency e.g. febrile convulsions,

blood

disorders (ITP). The information sheets also state the severe adverse

events: to name

but a few - diarrhoea, nerve deafness, arthritis, Guillain Barre

syndrome (

a paralysis syndrome), severe vision problems, seizures and

encephalitis.

Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) can lead to a range of

disabilities such

as epilepsy, loss of speech and communication and acquired autism.

The MMR vaccine contains three live attenuated viruses; their major

disadvantage is a danger of reversion of the virus strains to more

reactive and

virulent forms. In plain terms, if the wild virus can cause inflammation

in the

brain, joints, spine, eyes, ears and bowel then so can the

vaccine-virus.and to

quote an extract from a letter published in the Times (February 9 2002)

from Dr

Hall, President of Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health :

'Some

children develop encephalitis (brain swelling) when they catch measles,

mumps

or rubella viruses and may be left with a variety of handicaps,

including

physical and mental impairment, deafness, internal organ damage and

autism.....'

Recent press stories have said that there is a parallel between the film

of

Brockovich and Hear the Silence, however, Brockovich proved her

case in

court. Unfortunately, the MMR victims have had their legal aid stopped

just six

months before the cases were to be heard at the high court in April

2004.

There is a case to be answered for the link between MMR and autism and

bowel

problems. In the interest of justice, these children deserve to have the

issue of

MMR safety resolved in court and for this we need the help of legal aid.

a.. Many parents believe that the withdrawal of legal aid prior to the

court cases being heard is another way to delay or prevent access to

justice for

vaccine damaged children. The families' representatives were able to

present to

the legal aid appeal committee (the Funding Review Committee) evidence

not

only that measles virus had been found in cerebro spinal fluid (CSF)

taken from

three out of six of the test cases, but also that it had not been found

in 19

out of 20 controls. If the measles virus is in the CSF then it must

almost

certainly be in the brain. Bearing in mind:

b.. that these children, like all autistic children, suffer from a

form of

brain damage,

c.. that measles is known to be able to cause brain damage and

d.. that no other cause of autism has been suggested for the

overwhelming

majority of the families we are trying to help

Politicians and their senior medical advisers need to stop playing

politics

with children's lives. If there is a potential for measles epidemics

they must

provide measles vaccines. Critics of our group must think of this: If

our

members had been anti-vaccine lobbyists our children would not have been

taken for

vaccines and subsequently damaged. We are parents who put our faith in

the

system, our children have reacted usually in the time frame known to the

manufacturer and, in the main, are living with long term problems also

known to the

manufacturer.

Background Information

1. The MMR vaccine was introduced into the Japanese health programme at

about

the same time as in the UK. Shortly after its introduction Japanese

parents

started to complain to the authorities that their children were

suffering

severe neurological damage. The Government failed to act. Other parents

started to

reject the MMR vaccination for their children and still the Government

failed

to act. Outbreaks of measles occurred and, unfortunately, it was the

most

vulnerable in society, the babies under twelve months of age and too

young to

receive a measles vaccine, that were hit hardest and 69 deaths were

recorded. The

Japanese Government then banned the MMR vaccine and introduced a policy

of

separate measles and rubella vaccines. (The single Urabe mumps vaccine

would not

have been accepted as it had been held responsible for the neurological

damage when combined in the Japanese MMR vaccine.) The Japanese MMR

court cases

were heard in March 2003. Over 1,000 children were awarded MMR damages

against

the Japanese government and the Research Foundation for Microbial

Diseases at

Osaka University in Suita, Osaka Prefecture.

2. The UK pre-introductory MMR trials were inadequate in that they

failed to follow up adverse reactions for more than just a few weeks.

Proof of

inadequacy is in the knowledge that it took the DoH four years to

identify and

withdraw two of the three original MMR brands that had been introduced

into the

UK vaccination programme in 1988. These two brands, Pluserix and

Immravax

were withdrawn by September 1992 because they contained a mumps strain

known as

Urabe which caused mumps meningitis. Many of the JABS children have had

these

brands of MMR. It is also of concern that this problem must have been

well

known to the Government as an MMR vaccine containing the Urabe strain

had been

suspended in Canada six months before MMR was introduced in this

country.

3. The Government's vaccine policy-makers have failed to provide

an

efficient monitoring system for adverse events following vaccination.

The Health

Protection Agency in its former role as Public Health Laboratory's

Service is

on record in the Lancet (Vol 345. March 4, 1995) stating ''....there is

an

urgent need to find more reliable methods of adverse event

surveillance.'' The

point being that unless all reactions are put forward to a central body

instead

of being dismissed as ''unrelated'' or ''just a coincidence'' the

central

database will never hold accurate information on adverse events. How

many

coincidences are needed before it becomes meaningful enough to warrant

scientific,

clinical investigation?

4. The Government is well aware that vaccines sometimes cause

severe

damage; there is a branch of the Department of Social Security known as

the

Vaccine Damage Payment Unit. It was set up in 1979 following the Vaccine

Damage

Payment Act 1979. MMR vaccine damage payments have been awarded for

various

adverse effects including: epilepsy, Guillain-Barre syndrome (a

paralysis

condition), SSPE (a brain-wasting condition), profound deafness and

death. We are

aware of 24 cases where children have died after receiving MMR vaccines.

5. Any debate on vaccine damage will have DoH officials quoting

the

massive number of doses given to children in the United States. What is

never

stated by UK officials is that in the US they have a National Vaccine

Injury

Compensation Programme. In the last 12 years this programme has paid out

over $1

billion in payments to vaccine damaged children of which a 14% share has

been

paid out for MMR or its components. The drug companies have to

contribute to

the programme and up to August 1997 they had to pay an excise tax on

each dose

using a risk-based formula. The DTP and MMR were taxed at $4.56 and

$4.44

respectively, polio vaccines at $0.29 and DT (diphtheria/tetanus)

vaccines at

$0.06. This must surely give an indication of which vaccines carry the

highest risk

of a serious adverse reaction.

6. The problems associated with childhood vaccines is also being

reflected in the United States as has been reported in the United Press

International 13/11/03:

Washington, Nov.13 (UPI) -- More states next year probably will

follow

the example of Texas and Arkansas and pass legislation making it easier

for

parents to exempt their children from mandatory vaccine requirements,

health

experts told United Press International.....The Texas and Arkansas laws

-- driven

largely by groups arguing that vaccines carry too many risks -- passed

earlier this year. The laws allow parents to have their child exempted

from the

immunizations states require for school enrollment, such as measles,

whooping

cough and polio.

7. If outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella are feared and

parents in

their thousands want to vaccinate against these diseases, why are the

DoH

vaccine officials failing to order single injections from the very drug

companies

currently supplying the UK market with the MMR vaccines? JABS believes

in a

safe vaccination programme but the emphasis is on safe!

Contact Details:

Jackie Fletcher

JABS (Justice Awareness Basic Support)

1 Gawsworth Road

Golborne

Warrington

Cheshire WA3 3RF

email: jackie@...

website: www.jabs.org.uk

Tel: 01942 713565