North doc calls for probe into jab claims

North doc calls for probe into jab claims
Apr 27 2008 by Phil Doherty, Sunday Sun

THE Government has been slammed by a North expert for refusing to fund research into possible links between autism and vaccines when it is top of the agenda for US presidential candidates.

Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as well as Republican nominee John McCain last week pledged to provide cash following the case of Hannah Poling, aged nine, from Georgia in the US, if they won the race to the White House.

The Sunday Sun revealed a court ruled that Hannah developed autism after receiving a cocktail of jabs.

Experts fear her condition might have been triggered by two of the vaccinations which contained thiomerosal, a mercury-based preservative, which reacted with a DNA defect in Hannah’s body.

It comes at a time when Dr Andrew Wakefield is before the UK’s General Medical Council facing a charge of misconduct originating from his claims of a possible link between autism and the MMR jab.

Paul Shattock, head of Sunderland University’s Autism Research Unit, said: “It is time the British Government investigated this issue properly.

“We are not saying this is the cause — or the full cause — of the problem but it should be researched correctly.

“But this means the Government will have talk to other experts and not just their friends in the drug companies who have a vested interest.

“The problem is that when research is controlled by people who have a vested interest in the subject the study could be seriously flawed.”

A US court ruled Hannah should receive compensation. Her five inoculations included Measles Mumps and Rubella — MMR — whooping cough, polio and diphtheria.

According to research, only 0.2 per cent of the general population have the DNA defect compared to 38pc of autism sufferers.

Mercury has now been removed from child UK vaccines. However, it has long been the suspicion of some that before its removal it contributed to autism levels here.

It was in 1998 Dr Wakefield, then working at London’s Royal Free Hospital, first suggested a link between the MMR triple jab and an increased risk of developing autism.

The British Government has always denied any link, pointing to a series of studies backing its claims, the latest published recently by a team of researchers from London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital.

A Department of Health spokeswoman, said: “The evidence is clear, there is no link between vaccines and autism.

“The childhood immunisation programme continues to be a cornerstone of public health protection in this country.”

Defence in tatters

HEALTH bosses have been left red-faced after it emerged an autistic boy they put forward as a "guinea pig" to see if vaccines cause the condition has the same DNA damage as a previous case they dismissed as "extremely rare".

When the US Vaccine Court ruled Hannah Poling’s autism had been caused by vaccines aggravating an underlying DNA condition, health officials tried to play it down saying she was a one off case.

She was withdrawn as one of three test cases from the huge class action involving 4900 autistic children and replaced with the boy.

But now claims that Hannah is an "isolated, unusual case" have been left in tatters after it emerged the boy has the same DNA markers as she has, suggesting he too has DNA damaged by the inoculations.

According to research mitochondria DNA dysfunction in autistic children who have the regressive form of the condition could be as high as 38 per cent.

In the general population it is 0.2pc.

The crisis has forced the US Government to examine whether they are vaccinating children too early.