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New fears over MMR link to autism
July 9, 2007
By Stephen Adams
Fresh fears over a possible link
between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism have
been raised after a new study found that almost double the number of
children could have the condition than previously thought.
Researchers at Cambridge
University’s Autism Research Centre (ARC) have estimated that one in
58 children suffer from some form of the disorder, compared to
previous estimates of about one in 100.
The figures mean up to 210,000
children under 16 across the UK could have some form of autism, the
unpublished research by the ARC found.
advertisement Two of the seven
experts who took part in the study have now privately voiced
concerns that the controversial MMR vaccine may be a factor in the
emergence of autism among some children.
Dr Fiona Scott and Dr Carol Stott
have reportedly said they think the jab, given to children between
12 and 15 months, could be responsible for growing numbers of
children apparently exhibiting symptoms of the disorder. However,
the other five, including team leader Professor Simon Baron-Cohen,
rejected their view.
Autism is the term given to a wide
range of development disorders that affects an individual’s ability
to understand the world and communicate with others. It covers a
"spectrum" ranging from severe cases of "classic" autism - which
often renders a child unable to speak - to much milder Asperger’s
syndrome, which can affect a person’s ability to socialise.
Until the early 1990s experts
believed that only four or five people in 10,000 suffered from the
condition. Since then studies have shown autism is much more common,
with experts generally agreeing on the one in 100 figure.
Academics agree much of the
apparent increase can be explained by the fact that more people are
now aware of what autism is. But there is still a heated debate
about whether or not autism is actually becoming more common in
children.
Last year a study reported in the
medical journal The Lancet put forward an estimate that one in 86
children suffered from some form of autism. The ARC’s paper, based
on a study of 12,000 primary school children in Cambridgeshire
between 2001 and 2004, raises the estimate significantly.
The results of the study, which was
purely statistical and did not examine the possible medical causes
of autism, so worried Professor Baron-Cohen that he contacted health
officials in Cambridgeshire.
However, the professor - who is a
first cousin of the comedian Sasha Baron-Cohen - stressed he did not
believe the MMR vaccine was behind the apparent increase.
Professor Baron-Cohen said: "As for
MMR, at this point one can conclude that evidence does not support
the idea that the MMR causes autism."
He said he believed a better
understanding of autism and environmental factors such as exposure
to chemicals and hormones were more likely to be behind the recorded
increase. Nonetheless, the research is bound to spark renewed doubts
among concerned parents about the safety of the triple vaccine.
The percentage of children being
given the jab fell dramatically after doubts were raised over its
safety by Dr Andrew Wakefield, a gastroenterologist at the Royal
Free Hospital in London. Vaccination rates have only just started to
recover.
In 1998 Dr Wakefield co-authored a
paper published in The Lancet which looked at bowel disease in 12
children with autism, and suggested a possible link with the MMR
vaccine. Later he gave a press conference calling the safety of the
vaccine into question and recommending children should be given the
three inoculations separately.
Ten of the 13 academics who
contributed towards the paper soon retracted its conclusions, but Dr
Wakefield and two others have stuck by the 'interpretation’. Dr
Wakefield is due before a General Medical Council hearing next week
to answer a number of charges in relation to the 1998 study.
The new report has also triggered
calls for the Government to do more to further the understanding of
autism and help those with it.
Benet Middleton (OK), director of
communications at the National Autistic Society, said: "There is an
urgent need for a clear Government strategy for responding to
autism.
"We need to have an accurate
picture of how many people have autism, we need adequate services in
place to support people with autism and we need those working with
people with autism to have the right training.
"Current provision for those with
the disability is deeply inadequate given the scale of the need.
Autism is a lifelong disability and when an individual’s needs are
not met the long term consequences both financially and for the
individual’s well being are profound."
Ivan Corea, head of the Autism
Awareness Campaign UK, said many autistic people were at the mercy
of a "postcode lottery".
She said: "We are urging Gordon
Brown to provide a world class education for all children with
autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, to provide new specialist autism
schools, even Special Needs Academies and autism units equipped with
sensory rooms in mainstream primary and secondary schools."
A spokesman for the Health
Protection Agency (HPA) today stressed the MMR vaccine was safe.
She said: "We have not seen this
report, which has not been published yet and has not been peer
reviewed, so we cannot comment on it. Every test that has tried to
find a link between MMR and autism has not found one. MMR is a safe
vaccine."
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