05-Sep-02: PRESS STATEMENT ISSUED BY PROFESSOR JOHN O’LEARY ON 16 JUNE 2002.

“Neither this publication nor any public presentation made by me or my research team has stated that MMR causes autism.”

This press statement is issued following the publication of several newspaper articles on June 16^th 2002, in The Sunday Times, The Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Telegraph, in relation to the MMR vaccine and autism.

The newspaper articles, published June 16^th refer to work, which is to be presented next month at a scientific meeting in Dublin. This scientific research details a novel methodology for detecting various strains of measles virus. The research in no way establishes any link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The conclusions drawn in the above articles are misleading, erroneous and are causing unnecessary concern to parents.

I wish to confirm that neither I nor any of my research team made any statement or gave any information to the press. Any impression given otherwise is erroneous and misleading.

I and my research team wish to state from the outset, that we, like the National Disease Surveillance Centre, are concerned about current low immunisation rates.

I wish to make it clear, that I and my research team have consistently advocated immunisation and the use of MMR to protect the nation’s children from measles, mumps and rubella. We believe it is wrong for parents not to immunise their children and both I and my research team are calling on parents to immunise their children in accordance with the advice of the Minister for Health & Children. The Department of Health & Children and The National Disease Surveillance Centre.

Our views in relation to immunisation are on the public record.

I confirm that our research team has investigated children with autism with a co-existent novel form of inflammatory bowel disease, which our team has designated, \"new variant inflammatory bowel disease (nvIBD)\". This research was submitted and accepted for publication by the scientific peer review process and was published in early 2002. These children however represent only a minute fraction of children with autistic spectrum disorder and cannot be taken to present the disease phenotype as a whole.

Neither this publication nor any public presentation made by me or my research team has stated that MMR causes autism.

Our research findings have demonstrated a biological association between the presence of measles virus and new variant IBD in the setting of autism. This does in no way imply biological causation and it is incorrect for people to draw this erroneous conclusion. Indeed measles virus can be identified in normal control children.

Our research work is on going. We are attempting to genetically categorise the inflammatory bowel lesions found in autistic children using novel and sensitive molecular biological tools developed at our laboratory. In particular, we are attempting to identify what genes are disregulated in new variant IBD and to compare the results to patients with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis (the classical forms of inflammatory bowel disease).

We wish to state that we believe that it is important that research continues in this area.

Ends.

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