§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department will release the underlying data used to compile the study his Department commissioned for publication inThe Lancet into the effects of the MMR vaccine. [120029]
§ Yvette CooperThe epidemiological study published inThe Lancet in June 1999 was an independent study commissioned by the Medicines Control Agency. This study was designed to investigate a possible association between measles, mumps and rubella vaccination and autism and found no evidence for a causal association. A copy has been placed in the Library. The study was accepted for publication in The Lancet following a process of rigorous independent peer review in the normal manner. It is not usual for peer-reviewed data to be subject to reanalysis by third parties. The Department therefore does not propose to ask the independent investigators to release their data.