Settlement of €7m puts spotlight on causes of autism
Last week’s High Court case raised the question of whether birth trauma can cause autism. The evidence is fascinating, but it’s not conclusive
Dr Andrew Wakefield’s claims in 1998 linking the MMR vaccine to autism were widely reported in the media. As a consequence, parents lost confidence in vaccines.
Concerns that perfectly healthy children could suddenly be struck by vaccine-induced autism led to a decrease in the uptake of the vaccine and a predictable increase in the number of cases of mumps, measles and rubella.
It later emerged that Dr Wakefield, who was subsequently struck off, ...
