Paul Bignell
The Independent {UK]
17 June 2012
The controversial row surroundings alleged links between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism is set to be reignited following a court ruling in Italy.
Judges in Rimini, north-east Italy awarded the Bocca family Euros 174,000 (£140,000/$220,000 USD) after the Italian Health Ministry conceded the MMR vaccine caused autism in their nine-year-old son Valentino. Up to 100 similar cases are now being examined by Italian lawyers and experts suggest the case could lead to other families pursuing cases.
Doctors and health experts in Britain insist the link is merely coincidental saying children who develop autism, do so around the same time the MMR jab is administered. The Department of Health says ‘there is a wealth of evidence showing children who receive the MMR vaccine are no more at risk of autism than those who don’t.’
But the ruling in Italy is likely to re-open a debate which first made the headlines in Britain over a decade ago when the respected medical journal The Lancet published an article in 1998, making a connection between the triple vaccine and autism. Though the author’s methods were later discredited, it was enough for many families to refuse their children the jab.
Valentino Bocca was 15 months old when he received an MMR jab in 2004. His parents said the change in him, after the jab, from a healthy boy to one who was in serious discomfort, was immediate…
The article continues at The Independent.
H/T Mercola.com where Dr. Mercola has a video of his interview with Dr. Andrew Wakefield and several links, including Original Court Judgment (Italian, PDF)
Related: Actor-comedian Rob Schneider talks about AB 2109
AB2109 would ensure informed parental choice
…The bill, AB2109, requires the pediatrician or other health care professional to sign a document stating that he or she has informed the parent about the individual and public health risks of not immunizing a child. The California Department of Public Health will develop a form or the physician may develop one. It will state only that the health care clinician has provided the information, not that he or she necessarily agrees with the parent’s decision to exclude their child from protective immunizations…
Also at The Independent, Young cannabis users ‘do not realise the huge danger to their health’ . Drug carries 20 times the cancer risk of a plain tobacco cigarette – yet 88 per cent believe it is safer
