THE debate over whether the MMR vaccine can trigger autism and bowel disease
is raging as fiercely as ever, thanks to a controversial study linking these
problems to the measles virus.
MMR first came under suspicion in 1998, when Andrew Wakefield, a
gastroenterologist then at the Royal Free Hospital in London, found that a
handful of children developed autism shortly after their MMR shots. The children
all had bowel problems too. He couldn’t prove a link, but suggested there was
cause to worry that the vaccine triggered the symptoms.
Since then, numerous epidemiological studies have failed to show any connection…
