Nottingham Evening Post, 12/03/2003

A Nottingham law firm is spearheading a legal fight to prove a link between autism and the commbined MMR (measles,mumps, rubella)  vaccine.

If the High Court case succeeds, it could produce an avalanche of compensation claims. The action has taken more than four years for the company, Freethcartwright, to prepare.

One of the couples who could benefit is Donna and Jean-Pierre Varet, of West Bridgford. They say their autistic son, Junior, nine, was a normal youngster before receiving the triple jab in 1994.

Donna said: "After he had the triple jab, he immediately had a high temperature. He became very quiet, it was almost as if there was nothing there. If it is the MMR vaccine which is to blame, we just want the manufacturers to take responsibility."

The group action is against pharmaceutical companies Aventis Pasteur MSD, Merck and Glaxo-SmithKline.

Paul Balen, of Freethcartwright, said: "This is the first case of its kind involving MMR."

The case is scheduled to start in April 2004.

Donna and Jean-Pierre Varret have learned to live with Junior's temperamental behaviour. They have had to.

"Junior was just a normal young boy. He did everything normal from birth," said Donna. "But we were very concerned about how poorly he became. At first we wondered whether he might have become deaf, and then we thought he might be blind - and we had numerous health visitors round.

"When he was two-and-a-half, he was diagnosed with autism. But we had never heard much about autism in the past, so we had to start reading up about it, to find out more. The paediatrician came out to explain more to us, and explain what Junior was going to be like. It was a very traumatic time for us. Coming to terms with it - knowing what it was going to be like - was a big thing for us to take in."

After last summer's heated debate over possible links between the MMR jab and autism, the couple decided to act.

They joined the 1,000-strong group action - spearheaded by  Freethcartwright - suing the three main manufacturers of the MMR vaccine. Their case - if, indeed, they have one - will take time.

Freethcartwright, along with the Alexander Harris law firm in Manchester and London, must first persuade a High Court judge that there is a link between the vaccine and autism and bowel disease.
The result of the landmark five-month hearing, which begins in April 2004, is not expected until the end of that year.

The Scotsman, 02/03/2003

The parents of an autistic child who sued their local council for refusing to fund early-education treatment to help his condition have won a landmark case at Scotland’s highest civil court.

Christine and Malcolm Mahony fought a six-month campaign against West Lothian Council, which culminated in a judicial review at the Court of Session.

Only twice before in Scotland had legal aid been granted to a child to fight such an action.

The legal challenge centred on their son, Lewis, six, who was undergoing a therapy known as ABA - applied behaviour analysis - which was funded by the local authority for almost two years.

In August 2002, the family, who live in Linlithgow, were told that the council was no longer prepared to finance the £20,000-a-year programme.
Mrs Mahony, a former teacher who spent almost £15,000 on her son’s education following the council’s decision, will be reimbursed since the court ruled in her favour.

She said: "Lewis was doing so well, but ABA was an expensive programme so we asked for funding. He continued to flourish and we could see the improvements in his language and social skills since he had started ABA. As he progressed, he started at a mainstream nursery, which was wonderful. Then one day, we got a letter from the council saying they were not prepared to fund it any longer. I felt like my little boy’s future had been snatched away. The programme was tailor-made for him, but they were telling us we couldn’t continue."

Canada NewsWire, 25/02/2003

Two class action lawsuits were filed on February 24 in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on behalf of British Columbia residents who, it is claimed, were injured by the organic mercury compound, thimerosal.

The first class action was filed by Jaqueline Chamberlain of Sooke, British Columbia, on behalf of her infant son, Aaron, who, she says, suffered neurological damage after receiving two doses of the DPT vaccine, containing thimerosal, manufactured by Aventis Pasteur Limited/Aventis Pasteur Limitee.

Aaron was born a perfectly normal, healthy boy. According to his mother, he demonstrated social language, cognitive, behavioural and physical skills appropriate for his age. At about one-and-a-half years of age, after receiving the DPT Vaccine, he became unresponsive, withdrawn, slow in speech development, and developed repetitive behaviours and an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Aaron was diagnosed with autism at five, and now, at ten, still has limited language and social skills.

The second class action was filed by Elias Soursos of Richmond, British Columbia, on behalf of his infant son, Niko, who began to display symptoms of neurological damage after receiving three shots of the hepatitis B vaccines, containing thimerosal, manufactured by Merck Frosst Canada & Co. and Glaxosmithkline Inc.

Niko was born a perfectly normal, healthy boy. Before the vaccine injections, Niko achieved every developmental milestone expected of all normally developing children physically, neurologically and socially. At approximately one-and-a-half years of age after receiving three shots of hepatitis B vaccines, Niko began to display signs of neurological damage, became more distant and lost all language skills which he had acquired. He became non-verbal and developed self-stimming behaviours. Niko was diagnosed with autism at the age of two-and-a-half years.