Evening Post
11 April 2011
New MMR case hope. Mum hails US
autism link research claim
http://www.wigantoday.net/Wigan
By Charles Graham
A Wigan mum who campaigns for vaccine-damaged children is claiming a major
breakthrough in her battle for justice.
For the first time a former senior scientist from a pharmaceutical company has
suggested there may be links between MMR jabs and autism.
For years the industry and British government have denied that the measles,
mumps and rubella inoculation can cause serious and widespread side-effects.
Last year Jackie Fletcher, founder of Jabs pressure group, secured compensation
from the Uk's Vaccine Damage Payment Unit after it ruled that the severe
disabilities her teenaged son Robert has were caused by his MMR as a baby.
There are thousands of other parents signed up to the Jabs movement who believe
that their children's disabilities - most notably autism and bowel conditions
such as Crohn's disease - were caused by the vaccine.
Now Dr Helen V Ratajczak has published a major report in the US Journal of
ImmunoToxicology which reviews the possible causes of autism.
On a section covering MMR she acknowledges that there has been a number of
reports denying an association between the jab and MMR. But she then points to a
rise in the condition in Denmark after MMR was introduced there.
Mrs Fletcher said: "This report is of great significance to our drive to get the
authorities to recognise the risks posed by MMR.
"I have been in contact with my MP Andy Burnham in regard to the rules, such as
the one which does not allow the parents of children under the age of two to
claim. I hope he can raise this in Parliament."