Twelve of the 36 members of the British Committee on Safety of Medicines have financial links with the MMR manufacturers, whose products they have given the all-clear on the basis of published research. Most members are academics or medical experts who specialize in pharmacology.

Five of them hold shares in the drug companies, or are paid consultants, while another seven have received grants or sponsorship from them to fund academic studies or clinical trials.

All members declare their financial interests in a register and before meetings. The chairman then decides whether they can participate in discussions.

Campaigners against the MMR vaccine, who fear it causes autism or bowel disease in children, claim the financial links between drug watchdogs and the pharmaceutical industry could lead to a conflict of interest.

While the government and most of the medical establishment argue that the vaccine is safe, research by Dr Andrew Wakefield, of the Royal Free hospital, London, claimed the trials leading to the MMR vaccine's adoption in Britain were too brief to detect the feared complications.

The Sunday Times, London January, 28 2001