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Re: No link??
 

Email John P Heptonstall:
john@mac-tcm.demon.co.uk

Yet another 'wide ranging study' that simply rehashes the same old arguments and papers. Unfortunately any damage being done to children through vaccination procedures will continue apace with or without this study until government wises up to parental observations. Neither environmental nor pathogenic causes have been identified so Occam's Razor surely supports parents' observations as identifying the most likely causes - vaccines.

Bryan Christie states that the Scottish Expert Group found 'no link' between MMR and autism - is this surprising when the group took the same evidence to reach its conclusion that government did?

There are several LINKS between MMR and autism, not least parental observations, and perhaps the most damning is Dr. VK Singh's unpublished study (1) which followed closely on the heels his other, published, major piece of evidence (2); one must ask why (1) has been continually refused publication - is it too hot to handle as it shows clear evidence of a link between MMR and the brains of autistic persons? It has been quoted in the media and in eBMJ debates on this subject so any scientist worth his/her salt who is involved in autism/vaccine research will certainly know of it. Why no clamour for rapid publication so the facts can be opened to public and scientific debate?

Like the negative findings of the Scottish study, refusing publication of such vital information may simply force more children unnecessarily into autism; studies purporting to provide useful evidence such as Peltola et al (3), Gillberg et al (4), Kaye et al, which are so easily discredited in their support for the myth that MMR vaccines do not cause autism, are referenced by the Scottish group. Peltola, partly funded ny Merck Reserach Labs. whose vaccines had been used, conveniently could not find any autism amongst millions of children vaccinated when at least 5 per 10,000 were statistically present - the original study was never designed to answer the questions later posed! Gillberg et al conveniently ignored measles vaccines available for children prior to MMR, and only looked at MMR-vaccinated children under 8 years of age when, at that time, it was unusual to receive a diagnosis of autism before the age of 8! Kaye et al, in a relatively small study which was totally dependent on a computer generated database in its infancy, ignored at least two obvious hikes (doubling) in the numbers of autism cases diagnosed which coincide very well with the MR campaign of 1994 and MMRII introduction of 1996. These studies are again paraded in public as some sort of circumstantial evidence for the safety of MMR. They all avoid statistical consideration of the single antigen measles vaccines which were available long before MMR and during the period that autism emerged as a major threat to modern children.

VK Singh's study (2) identified a link between measles and autism, then study (1) between MMR and autism; his team suggest that measles viruses - wild or attenuated - are involved in an autoimmune process that causes demyelination in the brain leading to autism spectrum problems. This would not surprise those scientists who have already speculated that measles vaccine virus, as well as wild measles, is implicated in the development of multiple sclerosis - another disorder of demyleination. How many clues does one need before Occam's Razor counts?

Regards

John H.

References

1. "Positive titre of measles and MMR antibody are related to myelin basic protein autoantibody in autism" VK Singh, University of Michigan, College of Pharmacy, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; abstract provided to American Association of Immunologists, 1998.

2. "Serological Association of Measles Virus and HHV-6 with Brain Autoantibodies in Autism", VK Singh et al,Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology, October 1998; 89(1): ISSN: 0090-1229.

3. Peltola H et al "No evidence for MMR vaccine associated IBD or autism in a 14 year prospective study" lancet 1998; 351: 1327-28

4. Gillberg et al "MMR and Autism" The International Journal of Research and Practice, 1998; 2(4): 423-4