HL Deb 27 November 2000 vol 619 c107WA
Lord Clement-Jones

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will seek the release by the study's authors of the data on which the epidemiological study of a possible association between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination and autism, commissioned by the Medicines Control Agency and published in the Lancet in June 1999, is based. [HL4539]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The epidemiological study published in theLancet in June 1999 was an independent study commissioned by the Medicines Control Agency to investigate a possible association between measles, mumps and rubella vaccination and autism. 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 re-analysis by third parties. The data are not owned by the Medicines Control Agency or the Department of Health. It is the decision of the authors as to whether they choose to make their data available.