MMR & Autism seminar: Are we being told the truth?

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MMR & AUTISM SEMINAR - SATURDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2004
AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON GOWER STREET LONDON WC1

Are we being told the whole truth?

Two of the UK�s leading researchers into the link between MMR and autism are set to reveal their latest findings at a major public seminar in London organized by consumer health watchdog What Doctors Don�t Tell You.

Dr Carol Stott from the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge University and Paul Shattock, Director of the Autism Research Unit at the University of Sunderland � both of whom continue to work closely with Dr Andrew Wakefield, the man at the center of the MMR controversy - will be presenting scientific research which confirms the link between MMR and autism. http://www.wddty.co.uk/factsheet/MMR/index.asp

The seminar provides a timely counterpoint in the wake of recent press coverage trumpeting a study involving 5,763 children which found no link between MMR and autism.

However, another study involving 537,304 children found that the MMR vaccine increases the risk of autism by 850 per cent � or nearly 500 per cent if we allow for greater diagnostic awareness, one of the major arguments put forward for the sudden increase in autism. This study has received no media attention whatsoever which has heightened concerns that the public is still not being told the whole truth.

The new study has confirmed a definite causal link between the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine and autism - and it has used the same data employed by an earlier study that governments have relied on to deny the link.

The vaccine increases the risk of autism by 850 per cent, or nearly 500 per cent if we allow for greater diagnostic awareness, one of the major arguments put forward for the sudden increase in autism.

This conclusion contradicts that of the Madsen study carried out in 2002, which found no link, and which governments have gratefully clung to ever since.

So why the enormous discrepancy between the two trials? Autism is usually diagnosed only at age 5 or older, or it is in Denmark from where the data for both studies has been gleaned. The Madsen study monitored the progress of vaccinated children in Denmark only for four years, so it's hardly surprising that few, if any, cases of autism were established. Less severe cases, which might have become apparent even later, were certainly not included in the findings.

The new study, carried out by American paediatrician Dr Fouad Yazbak and Dr G S Goldman, tracks levels of autism in Denmark from 1980 - seven years before the MMR vaccine was introduced in Denmark - until 2002. Prevalence of autism among children aged from 5 to 9 stood at 8.38 cases per 100,000 in the pre-vaccine years of 1980 to 1986, and then rose to 71.43 cases by the year 2000.

Dr Samy Suissa of McGill University had similar problems with the Madsen study. When he analysed the statistics he discovered that the rate of autism increases to a high of 27.3 cases per 100,000 two years after vaccination compared with just 1.45 cases in non-vaccinated children.

No doubt in the spirit of the public's right to know, government officials will be broadcasting the latest findings as loudly as they did the Madsen conclusions. Strangely, they have been silent thus far.

(Sources: Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 2004; 3: 70-5; New England Journal of Medicine, 2002; 347: 1477-82).

For any concerned parent, grandparent or prospective parent, this is a golden opportunity to discover the truth about the link between autism and MMR from the people at the forefront of scientific research into this area.

Places for the seminar are strictly limited, and demand is likely to be high, so make sure you reserve your place today.

Tickets are priced at �39-95 (inc. VAT) in advance or �45-00 on the door.

Click here to book online at www.wddty.co.uk/factsheet/MMR/index.asp

Alternatively, call 0870 444 9886 or visit www.wddty.co.uk

MMR & Autism Seminar - SATURDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2004 AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON GOWER STREET LONDON WC1

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