Advert that claims MMR jab could cause autism is banned

Advert that claims MMR jab could cause autism is banned

• The World Health Organisation and the Department of Health have found no evidence of a causal link between MMR and autism
  

A website has been ordered to remove a
claim that the MMR jab could cause autism in children by the
Advertising Standards Agency.
The children’s immunisation service, babyjabs.co.uk, claimed experts believe the vaccine 'could be causing autism in up to 10% of
autistic children in the UK'.

It also said: 'Most experts now agree that the
large rise (in autism) has been caused partly by increased diagnosis, but
also by a real increase in the number of children with autism.'





The babyjabs website says it enables parents to make an 'informed choice' about child vaccinations

It added that parental fears the jab caused autism
were 'supported' by the fact that the the vaccine strain measles had
been found in the guts and brains of some autistic children.
However,
the ASA said both the World Health Organisation and the Department of
Health have found no evidence of a causal link between MMR and autism.

The
ASA ruled: 'Consumers were likely to infer from the claim, that the
‘real increase in the number of children with autism’ was not just down
to increased diagnosis, but the vaccine might have played a role in
bringing about that increase.'

They
added: 'Because we had not seen supporting evidence that that was the
case, and understood that that position was also contradicted by general
medical opinion, we concluded that the claim was misleading.'

BabyJabs Ltd denied a breach
citing previous scientific research which had concluded: 'We cannot rule
out the existence of a susceptible subgroup with an increased risk of
autism if vaccinated'.

But
the ASA said: 'The Cochrane review, looking at the general evidence
available, could find no significant association between MMR
immunisation and autism.

'We
noted that the evidence provided by the advertiser included studies and
an article which looked at the increased prevalence of autism, but did
not include evidence that any increase was due to the MMR vaccine.'

They
added: 'We considered that consumers would understand from the (advert)
that the MMR vaccine was likely to have caused autism in up to 10% of
autistic children in the UK, namely between 300 and 400 children a year.


'We noted we had not
seen any evidence, such as a clinical trial or study, which actively
showed that the MMR vaccine was likely to cause autism in between 300
and 400 children a year.

'Because we did not consider that we had seen sufficient evidence to support the claim we concluded it was misleading.'


Source:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2185378/Advert-claiming-MMR-jab-coud-cause-autism-banned.html