JABS PRESS RELEASE - 15/12/03

HEAR THE SILENCE

JABS welcomes the screening of tonight's Channel Five TV docu-drama "Hear
the Silence" (9.00pm) which is based on real-life parents' stories about
the MMR vaccination and the controversy surrounding  Dr Andrew Wakefield
and his research suggesting a possible link between the MMR vaccination and
autism. A debate follows the programme which JABS had hoped would include
the vaccine policy officials from the Department of Health. Unfortunately,
those responsible for vaccination policy declined their invitation to
appear. JABS is disappointed that the same people who openly criticise the
research scientists like Dr Wakefield and parent groups did not have the
courage and courtesy to put their case before the public in this debate.

Since our group was founded in 1994 JABS has been contacted by thousands of
parents concerned about adverse events following childhood vaccinations
many of whom have long term serious problems including autistic-like
symptoms and bowel disorders following MMR vaccines. Some parents have
informed us that their own GP or consultant was not being effective in
treating the child's long term diarrhoea/constipation and were desperate to
be referred to a specialist clinic for diagnosis and treatment. Many of
these parents were provided with information from JABS on how to contact Dr
Wakefield at the Royal Free hospital.

JABS believes the Government's vaccine senior officers have failed to
investigate the children believed to have been damaged. During the course
of a one hour meeting in 1997 (portrayed in the film) a full list of
children, then affected, was presented by JABS and the legal
representatives to the Health Minister, Chief Medical Officer and Principal
Medical Officer . We asked that the Government should instigate a
scientific investigation of the children believed to have been damaged
which could have been useful on two fronts:

1. To answer the question of MMR safety.

2. If the vaccine was found to be causing harm it may have been possible to
identify ''at-risk'' groups and  this may  have led to a screening
programme which could have improved vaccine safety for all children.

The Health Minister at the time stated she was willing to look at all
scientific evidence but as parents it is very difficult for us to produce
this. That is why we believe the current claims by the vaccine
policy-makers that there is no scientific evidence to show the MMR vaccine
is unsafe will continue to be made. Until the Government investigates
children believed to have been damaged, the ''scientific evidence'' from
the DoH is unlikely to change.

The statement that the health secretary, John Reid, made on GMTV in
November 03: "It is unequivocal that there is no evidence at all that MMR
is linked to autism." needs to be challenged. World experts in the field of
virology and pathology have replicated results found by Dr Wakefield's team
when he was at  the Royal Free Hospital, London and other independent
Japanese scientists have also duplicated the findings.

John Reid should be reminded that the drug manufacturers of MMR vaccines
have provided his senior medical advisers with a long list of the adverse
reactions known to be associated with their products. These lists are
virtually identical from each of the drug companies. They state the minor
side effects which doctors are happy to share with parents: namely -
rashes, raised temperature etc. These same sheets also state reactions only
recently being publicly acknowledged by the Health Protection Agency e.g.
febrile convulsions, {*filter*} disorders (ITP). The information sheets also
state the severe adverse events: to name but a few  - diarrhoea, nerve
deafness, arthritis, Guillain Barre syndrome ( a paralysis syndrome),
severe vision problems, seizures and encephalitis. Encephalitis
(inflammation of the brain) can lead to a range of disabilities such as
epilepsy, loss of speech and communication and acquired autism.

The MMR vaccine contains three live attenuated viruses; their major
disadvantage is a danger of reversion of the virus strains to more reactive
and virulent forms. In plain terms, if the wild virus can cause
inflammation in the brain, joints, spine, eyes, ears and bowel then so can
the vaccine-virus.and to quote an extract from a letter published in the
Times (February 9 2002) from Dr David Hall, President of Royal College of
Paediatrics and Child Health : 'Some children develop encephalitis (brain
swelling) when they catch measles, mumps or rubella viruses and may be left
with a variety of handicaps, including physical and mental impairment,
deafness, internal organ damage and autism.....'  

Recent press stories have said that there is a parallel between the film of
Erin Brockovich and Hear the Silence, however, Brockovich proved her case
in court. Unfortunately, the MMR victims have had their legal aid stopped
just six months before the cases were to be heard at the high court in
April 2004. There is a case to be answered for the link between MMR and
autism and bowel problems. In the interest of justice, these children
deserve to have the issue of MMR safety resolved in court and for this we
need the help of legal aid.

 * Many parents believe that the withdrawal of legal aid prior to the court
cases being heard is another way to delay or prevent access to justice for
vaccine damaged children. The families' representatives were able to
present to the legal aid appeal committee (the Funding Review Committee)
evidence not only that measles virus had been found in cerebro spinal fluid
(CSF) taken from three out of six of the test cases, but also that it had
not been found in 19 out of 20 controls. If the measles virus is in the CSF
then it must almost certainly be in the brain. Bearing in mind:  
* that these children, like all autistic children, suffer from a form of
brain damage,  
* that measles is known to be able to cause brain damage and  
* that no other cause of autism has been suggested for the overwhelming
majority of the families we are trying to help

Politicians and their senior medical advisers need to stop playing politics
with children's lives. If there is a potential for measles epidemics they
must provide measles vaccines. Critics of our group must think of this: If
our members had been anti-vaccine lobbyists our children would not have
been taken for vaccines and subsequently damaged. We are parents who put
our faith in the system, our children have reacted usually in the time
frame known to the manufacturer and, in the main, are living with long term
problems also known to the manufacturer.

Background Information

1. The MMR vaccine was introduced into the Japanese health programme at
about the same time as in the UK. Shortly after its introduction Japanese
parents started to complain to the authorities that their children were
suffering severe neurological damage. The Government failed to act. Other
parents started to reject the MMR vaccination for their children and still
the Government failed to act. Outbreaks of measles occurred and,
unfortunately,  it was the most vulnerable in society, the babies under
twelve months of age and too young to receive a measles vaccine, that were
hit hardest and 69 deaths were recorded. The Japanese Government then
banned the MMR vaccine and introduced a policy of separate measles and
rubella vaccines. (The single Urabe mumps vaccine would not have been
accepted as it had been held responsible for the neurological damage when
combined in the Japanese MMR vaccine.) The Japanese MMR court cases were
heard in March 2003. Over 1,000 children were awarded MMR damages against
the Japanese government and the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases
at Osaka University in Suita, Osaka Prefecture.

 2. The UK pre-introductory MMR trials were inadequate in that they failed
to follow up adverse reactions for more than just a few weeks. Proof of
inadequacy is in the knowledge that it took the DoH four years to identify
and withdraw two of the three original MMR brands that had been introduced
into the UK vaccination programme in 1988.  These two brands, Pluserix and
Immravax were withdrawn by September 1992 because they contained a mumps
strain known as Urabe which caused mumps meningitis. Many of the JABS
children have had these brands of MMR. It is also of concern that this
problem must have been well known to the Government as an MMR vaccine
containing the Urabe strain had been suspended in Canada six months before
MMR was introduced in this country.

 3. The Government's vaccine policy-makers have failed to provide an
efficient monitoring system for adverse events following vaccination. The
Health Protection Agency in its former role as Public Health Laboratory's
Service is on record in the Lancet (Vol 345. March 4, 1995) stating
''....there is an urgent need to find more reliable methods of adverse
event surveillance.''  The point being that unless all reactions are put
forward to a central body instead of being dismissed as ''unrelated'' or
''just a coincidence'' the central database will never hold accurate
information on adverse events. How many coincidences are needed before it
becomes meaningful enough to warrant scientific, clinical investigation?  

 4. The Government is well aware that vaccines sometimes cause severe
damage; there is a branch of the Department of Social Security known as the
Vaccine Damage Payment Unit. It was set up in 1979 following the Vaccine
Damage Payment Act 1979.  MMR vaccine damage payments have been awarded for
various adverse effects including: epilepsy, Guillain-Barre syndrome (a
paralysis condition), SSPE (a brain-wasting condition), profound deafness
and death. We are aware of 24 cases where children have died after
receiving MMR vaccines.

 5. Any debate on vaccine damage will have DoH officials quoting the
massive number of doses given to children in the United States. What is
never stated by UK officials is that in the US they have a National Vaccine
Injury Compensation Programme. In the last 12 years this programme has paid
out over $1 billion in payments to vaccine damaged children of which a 14%
share has been paid out for MMR or its components. The drug companies have
to contribute to the programme and up to August 1997 they had to pay an
excise tax on each dose using a risk-based formula. The DTP and MMR were
taxed at $4.56 and $4.44 respectively, polio vaccines at $0.29 and DT
(diphtheria/tetanus) vaccines at $0.06. This must surely give an indication
of which vaccines carry the highest risk of a serious adverse reaction.

 6. The problems associated with childhood vaccines is also being reflected
in the United States as has been reported in the United Press International
13/11/03:

 Washington, Nov.13 (UPI) -- More states next year probably will follow the
example of Texas and Arkansas and pass legislation making it easier for
parents to exempt their children from mandatory vaccine requirements,
health experts told United Press International.....The Texas and Arkansas
laws -- driven largely by groups arguing that vaccines carry too many risks
-- passed earlier this year. The laws allow parents to have their child
exempted from the immunizations states require for school enrollment, such
as measles, whooping cough and polio.

7. If outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella are feared and parents in
their thousands want to vaccinate against these diseases, why are the DoH
vaccine officials failing to order single injections from the very drug
companies currently supplying the UK market with the MMR vaccines? JABS
believes in a safe vaccination programme but the emphasis is on safe!  

Contact Details:

Jackie Fletcher
JABS (Justice Awareness Basic Support)
1 Gawsworth Road
Golborne
Warrington
Cheshire WA3 3RF

website: www.jabs.org.uk
Tel: 01942 713565