Parents who believe the MMR jab caused their children to develop autism have hit back at a study which claims the link between the vaccine and the condition is "not real".

The Government insists the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe, but many parents are refusing to take their children for the jab over fears it might be linked to autism.

Now researchers say the huge increase in cases of autism seen since 1979 may simply be the result of more awareness and better record-keeping.

Professor Brent Taylor and colleagues from the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London argue that the apparent increase in cases is "not real".

They said the increase was probably due to "increased recognition, a greater willingness to accept the diagnostic label, and better recording systems".

The new findings are based on 567 autistic children born between 1979 and 1998.

More than 2,000 parents, such as Susan Tompkins from Horncastle, believe their children developed autism as a result of the MMR vaccine and are taking legal action against the drug companies who produce it.

Mrs Tompkins' eight-year-old son Joshua was diagnosed with autism at the age of four. He suffered a serious reaction after having the combined jab, developing a measle-like rash and vomiting.

"This study only looks at records, which don't necessarily show a link between MMR and autism," she said.

"If they were to look back at Joshua's records, they would see he was diagnosed as autistic aged four and nothing else. There isn't even a record of the reaction he had after having the MMR.

"The study also only looks at records up to 1998, when a link between MMR and autism was only suggested in 1998.

"Before that, there would have been no reason to record a link between MMR and autism. I think if they did the study again for the last five years then their findings would be considerably different."

Louth-based GP Dr Peter Mansfield, who gives single vaccines against the childhood diseases, claims the study is just another attempt to justify the Government's triple vaccine policy.

"The clinical evidence based on actual visits to actual people has made a case for the link between MMR and autism to the degree of a racing certainty," he said.

"The problem is that the Government is, sooner or later, going to have to admit this link and admitting things seems to be against their religion.

"These studies look at records but they do not consider what is not recorded.

"They look at figures, not people, and clinical studies are what is needed. And it is these clinical studies, all over the world, that have shown there is a link."

In 1998 Dr Andrew Wakefield, then also based at the Royal Free medical school, claimed to have found an association between regressive autism and bowel problems that possibly related to the MMR vaccine.

He argued that because of uncertainty about its safety, the MMR vaccine should be withdrawn.

And in 2001, the Autism Research Unit at the University of Sunderland reported a tenfold increase in autism rates over the previous decade.

Professor Taylor's study found that triggers cited by parents for their children's autism differed before and after the scare.

The researchers wrote: "Before August 1997, parents incriminated trigger factors such as domestic stress, seizures, or viral illness.

"Post-1997 parents were more likely to attribute regression to vaccination, especially the MMR vaccine."

The vaccine was cited as a trigger in two out of 46 autism cases before 1997, but six out of 30 cases after 1997.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "There is no credible scientific evidence showing an association between MMR and autism. MMR remains the best way of protecting a child from measles, mumps and rubella.

"The department's priority is to give accurate information to parents that explains the real benefits of MMR, and describes for them the very few risks that could occur."

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