It is widely appreciated that British Medical Journal asks authors "to declare any competing interests," yet this study does not mention it was paid for by Merck who has a compelling interest in the outcome of any such research.

The Letters to the Editor of BMJ point out the following:

The author of the Finnish Study when asked in a radio interview, if his study was designed to pick up cases of autism, replied "no". Not surprisingly his study did not establish a connection.

In fact the study examined the wrong hypothesis, concentrating on children who had "acute" reactions within "two to three weeks of MMR" thereby missing the insidious nature of late onset autism. The gap between the vaccination and the diagnosis of autism is such that it would have been a miracle had any case been reported.

There has unquestionably been a massive increase in autism in the UK since the introduction of the controversial MMR vaccine containing three live viruses and no satisfactory explanation is being preferred by anyone in health.

As a matter of urgency independent scientific research should be initiated, with adequate funding, into the area of science in contention, MMR/bowel disease/autism.

Some other criticisms of the study:

1. The study was very dependent on Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) reporting by medical professionals, and any study which is totally dependent on adverse reaction reporting by medical professionals must be flawed from the start. In recent years it has been widely reported that ADR-based statistics cannot be trusted. A 1997 French study (Moride et al) suggested that doctors may be underreporting ADRs by 24,500 times

2. Only one company supplied the vaccines, Merck Research Labs, West Point, PA, USA. the company that part- funded the research paper.

3. The study only identified 31 children as having any ADR after MMR vaccination, that in itself is questionable. One has to note that the children with identified ADRs typically suffered orchitis, rashes or seizures and therefore would no doubt have been returned to their physician or to hospital to investigate. It is equally reasonable to assume that many more children may have suffered ADRs, which did not appear to require return for medical support.

4. In the case of autism many children have been noted by their parents to have developed what they refer to as ADRs and which include sudden regression in mental faculties, physical deterioration and the onset, albeit gradual, of speech and communication deficit.

5. Although some of the children may have experienced digestive and bowel disorders the overwhelming problems mentioned above may have taken precedence when seeking medical support. The increasing pain threshold associated with autism may have masked any bowel discomfort.

When one's child is having a seizure, or has begun to lose significant communication skills, the last thing parents and medical professionals are likely to focus on are runny tummies or loss of appetite. Anti-epileptic drugs are quickly introduced after EEG and can themselves be then accused of precipitating gastric or digestive ADRs.

6. The study does not appear to have in anyway attempted to identify children who rapidly developed speech and communication difficulties or epilepsy-like symptoms despite the high prevalence of such effects prior to the later diagnosis of autism. A high percentage of autistic individuals suffer from epilepsy and one rare form, infantile spasms, is actually common in autism.

7. The authors note that from the onset of the MMR vaccination schedules in 1982 to the time of their study Finland had dealt out some three million doses of MMR vaccine saying that the practice was been safe.

Without doubt a large proportion of the one and a half million children who received a double MMR assault will now exhibit not only autistic traits (1 in 100) but other chronic disorders such as asthma, eczema, inflammatory bowels, SIDS, whether or not the vaccine was involved. That is a statistical certainty. No attempt has been made to highlight this fact or to assess whether any of the children developed such serious events in close proximity to their vaccinations.

1.8 million children, having 3 million doses of vaccine, were observed for up to 14 years to seek "all adverse events in a causal association with MMR vaccination". There must have been catastrophic underreporting: only 437 minor and 173 potentially serious adverse events of any sort were observed.

The prevalence of autism in Northern Finland is about 1:1000 (2) - it is likely about 1800 of these vaccinated children have autism, yet not one case was reported.

One hospital in Helsinki recently reported a series of 47 children with inflammatory bowel disease. Hence, this is not an uncommon diagnosis in Finnish children, but Patja's nationwide study of 1.8 million vaccinated children did not find one case.

The annual rate of serious adverse events; fifty in 1983, the first full year of vaccination, dropping to only 5 in 1990. Their 'passive surveillance system' was so passive that it observed only a fraction of all adverse events.

This is an unreliable report that provides little valuable information about the safety of MMR vaccination.

Related Articles:

Vaccine Scene 2000 - Review and Update

Dr. Wakefield?s Latest: MMR And Autism

Measles Virus From Vaccine

MMR Immunization Can Lead to Autism and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

MMR Vaccine as a Potential Cause of Encephalitis in Children

Orlando Autism Conference Highlights MMR Connection

Recent Congressional Testimony on Autism