Aspies For Freedom

Family sues over alleged MMR link to autism

TANYA THOMPSON
HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT
The Scotsman
Tue 24 Jan 2006

A SCOTS family will launch a multi-million-pound lawsuit at the High Court in London today, claiming the MMR vaccine was responsible for causing autism in their child.

The test case, which could open the floodgates to hundreds of similar actions, is set to reignite the fierce debate over the safety of the mumps, measles and rubella jab.

The family, from Glasgow, is among nine suing the government in a joint action. They cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Legal experts said that if the challenge is successful, each child could receive £5 million in compensation.

The parents are seeking a judicial review at the Court of Appeal over a decision by the Legal Services Commission to withdraw legal aid. Denied financial assistance, they have been forced to bring the case to court themselves.

Arguments over the triple vaccine have divided families and even elements of the medical fraternity, both at home and abroad.

Dr Andrew Wakefield first spoke of the possible link between autism and MMR back in 1998, but since then several studies have concluded that the jab is not linked to such disorders.

Jackie Fletcher, the founder of JABS, a "support group for vaccine-damaged children", has campaigned for more than a decade on behalf of hundreds of families affected by autism.

She said today's case was a final attempt to access justice for children in the UK courts. If unsuccessful, the parents will go to the European Court of Human Rights, she said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health insisted MMR was safe and urged parents to have their children vaccinated.

Source:  http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=115342006

They will lose.

They may have backing from certain interested parties, and feel that even if they lose they will get a lot of publicity for the issue, and may give the government a 'black eye' on the MMR issue.

It really annoys me that these people will not accept good science. If they lose due to scientific evidence being against them, then they will treat it as a miscarriage of justice.

They picked a fight they cannot possibly win. One thing that I've noticed is that most of the parents of children with autism who think that MMR causes autism, don't recognize Asperger's as a form of autism. Or atleast they tone it down and don't talk about it. I guess it's easier to blame vaccines instead of realizing that it's in their genes.

If the proof was there, that vaccines causes autism, then I'd sure recognize it. But it simpy isn't the case, this theory has been debunked so many times now that I've lost count. And in the meantime the quacks are making money...

These kind of class actions are not usually successful in the United Kingdom - one need only think of similar tobacco and pesticide cases - but it will create  publicity, and its failure will be viewed by many as a result of government colluding with big business, as seems to have happened in the tobacco litigation.

I wonder if "expenses for ABA" (said to be £76,000 for two years "early intervention") will form part of the damages claimed.