BILL WELSH

A CAMPAIGNER has severely criticised a report out today that claims there is no link between the MMR triple vaccine and autism.

The research, published by the Consumers Association, said the measles, mumps and rubella triple vaccine was the most effective and safest way to immunise children.

But Bill Welsh, chairman of the group Action Against Autism, said: "This is exactly the kind of 'so-called' research that angers the parents of autistic children."

Mr Welsh has an eight-year-old grandson, Luke Payton, who suffers from autism. The campaigner, from Giffnock, near Glasgow, added: "There is nothing new in this report, it just reviews all the old discredited statistical studies."

The latest research looked into 12 cases of autism reported in a 1998 scientific paper.

That paper claimed eight of the cases of autism began soon after routine MMR immunisation, but the new research found no link between the autism of those children and the triple vaccine.

The review stressed evidence did not prove MMR caused the autism or bowel problems.

But Mr Welsh said the studies reviewed were designed to dismiss the link between MMR and autism, not investigate it.

However, Glasgow doctor Syed Ahmed said he supported the findings of the new report.

He said: "I have read more than 200 reports all agreeing there is no scientific evidence of a link."