Outrage as MMR research fails in bid to secure funding

FUNDING for a £500,000 study into links between the controversial MMR vaccine and autism has been refused by the Medical Research Council.

The decision by the government-funded body has thrown the research project - which aimed to settle once and for all the argument over the safety of MMR - into jeopardy.

Last night autism campaigners claimed the decision was politically-motivated, condemning it as "monstrous".

The government has spent millions of pounds on persuading parents that the triple measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe.

Researchers had hoped to examine the theory that the measles virus from the MMR vaccine is causing autism and bowel disorders in children.

The theory was first suggested in 1998 by Dr Andrew Wakefield, formerly of the Royal Free Hospital in London. Wakefield’s claim led to a huge slump in vaccination rates.

At the moment the rate in Scotland is 87.6%, well below the 95% recommended by the World Health Organisation in order to provide herd immunity. The new study proposed to examine the guts of 1,000 children, half of them autistic, for the presence of the measles virus and gut damage.

It was to have involved highly respected institutions such as the University of Edinburgh, Lothian Primary Care Trust and Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

The project was to have been headed by Dr David Wilson, a paediatric consultant at the Edinburgh hospital.

But last night the MRC confirmed that it had turned down the application for funding for the £500,000 research programme. A spokeswoman said: "We have decided to decline the grant."

Last night Bill Welsh, chairman of the campaign group Action Against Autism, said: "The whole thing stinks. To refuse to examine autistic children is criminal.

"It is monstrous and I believe it is politically motivated. The Medical Research Council has been appalling on this issue.

"The hierarchy of the medical profession are running scared and protecting their own kind rather than seeking an answer to what has happened to these poor distressed children.

"The call for funding for this research was made in Scotland. Health is a devolved matter and this decision is being made by mandarins in England. The funding should now come from Scotland."

Yesterday Wilson said he intended to press ahead with the research and would consider applying elsewhere for funding. He added, however, that the study would not now begin in October, as originally planned.

He said: "Our group is going to continue on regardless of this setback." However, he played down the controversy surrounding the decision.

"None of us has any feeling that this was politically motivated in any way," he said.

"When our group saw the scientific reasons behind it we accepted what they said.

"We want to continue to our work on the causes of autism to help the children suffering from the condition.

"We do think we will be able to do this work. We will have to reconvene the group to work out what our next plans are."

Explaining the MRC’s decision, its spokeswoman said: "We only fund the highest quality scientific proposals and the board simply did not feel that Dr Wilson’s application was as good as it could be.

"We have left the door open for him to make applications in the same area but the science has to be developed."