Scientists told MMR vaccine can cause autism

http://www.sundayherald.com/10761 

Laboratory experiments have shown for the first time that the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) vaccine can cause autism, experts gathered at an international conference were told this weekend.

Professor Vijendra Singh, of Utah State University, speaking at the International Public Conference on Vac cination, being held in Virginia, said he has scientific evidence that the controversial jab triggers an immune reaction which damages a protein in the brain, causing autism. Singh first suggested two years ago that exposure to the measles virus could trigger a response in some children which interferes with the development of the myelin sheath which surrounds the nerves in the brain. If the myelin does not develop pro perly, nerve fibres do not work as they should and this could explain brain abnormalities associated with autism.

But now the leading US researcher has carried out laboratory experiments which he believes show that the MMR vaccine triggers an auto-immune reaction in autistic children causing antibodies in the blood to attack the brain. He argues that autism is caused by auto-immunity - an abnormal reaction in which the immune system becomes primed to react against body organs - to part of the brain.

He said: "This study provides the first ever laboratory-based evidence for a causal relationship between MMR and autism. As I made scien tific presentation of my initial findings, a vaccine-autism connection became even more apparent. The rapidly accumulating evidence strongly implicates auto-immunity in autism, which in many may result from a vaccine injury."

Singh analysed blood samples from 140 youngsters, 80 of whom suffered from autism, and found antibodies associated with the MMR vaccine in 53% of the autistic children. These antibodies were not found in the blood of any of the control group.

Singh insists his findings, which have been submitted to The Lancet medical journal, are solid evidence of the link between the vaccine and the increase in autism in children.

Dr Scott Montgomery of Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, who also spoke at the conference, said the research highlighted the need for a larger study. "There have been no studies so far that have shown the absolute safety or absolute risk," said Montgomery. "I think the most sensible thing now is that there has to be an epidemiological study comparing a large group which has been exposed to the MMR vaccine and another which has not."

More than 90% of Scots children are immunised with the MMR vaccine. However, growing fear that the jab is linked to autism has prompted some Scottish families to pay a private GP to inoculate their children with separate jabs shipped from France. Dr Peter Copp, from Edinburgh, has imported 200 sets of the three vaccines and is inoculating up to 15 children a day. He is now placing his second order.

The reaction of parents has prompted the government to issue reassurances as to the safety of the vaccine. Last month, Sir David Carter, outgoing chief medical officer, warned that the failure of parents to have their children inoculated could cause epidemics of measles, mumps and rubella.

Last night, David Thrower, who believes his son's autism is a result of receiving the triple vaccine, welco med Singh's study. He said: "These scientists are not doing this because they don't like vaccines, they are doing this because their scientific research is leading them in this direction. This has got to be an extremely important finding. The scientific community has to respond positively."

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