Warrington Guardian 25/4/02
http://www.thisiswarrington.co.uk/cheshire/warrington/news/WARRINGTON_NEWS47
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New evidence casts more doubt on jab

STARTLING new evidence from Japan concerning the controversial MMR jab has prompted parents in the UK to question the secrecy of Government committees. The Japanese government discontinued the MMR vaccine in 1993, just four years after it was introduced, because of serious side effects.

And this month, the same government has been made to release documents under a new public information law, which could expose a cover-up of data to delay banning the vaccine. The information will be used in a lawsuit, which claims that the vaccine caused the deaths of thousands of children.

Parents in the UK have welcomed the move but say that it has raised questions about the high levels of secrecy in the British Government. David Thrower, of Ackers Road, Stockton Heath, believes that his 14-year-old son Oliver became autistic as a result of receiving the vaccine.

He said: "Japanese lawyers are now obtaining information that contradicts the Government's previous position on side effects.  "In this country we don't have a Freedom of Information Act and we are using two secretive organisations - The Committee on the Safety of Medicines and the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation. The big question is whether lawyers acting on behalf of damaged children over here can obtain papers from the JCVI."

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20030314wo25.htm
Govt, group ordered to pay in vaccine suit

Yomiuri Shimbun

The government and the Research Foundation for Microbial Diseases at Osaka University in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, were ordered Thursday to pay 34 million yen to the family of a boy who died after receiving the now-banned measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in 1991.

They were also told to pay 121 million yen to the family of a girl who fell seriously ill after being given the vaccine.

The government has recognized 1,065 people as eligible for financial help as a result of side-effects they experienced after being given the MMR vaccine.

They comprise the biggest single group of victims under the government's program to compensate sufferers of vaccination-related health problems.

According to Thursday's ruling at the Osaka District Court, Daisuke Kinoshita, the eldest son of Masami and Kayoko Kinoshita of Suita, suffered from a high fever two days after receiving the MMR vaccine in June 1991.

He was diagnosed with serious brain damage and died about 14 months later at the age of 2 years, 11 months.

Hana Ueno, 13, of Iwate Prefecture, displayed similar symptoms two weeks after being vaccinated in April 1991. She also suffered brain damage and remains severely disabled.

Judge Shinichi Yoshikawa said it was reasonable to surmise, based on the evidence, that the children's problems had been caused by the MMR vaccine.

He said the research foundation had altered the way it produced the vaccine without government approval and must have been aware that such a change could have serious consequences.

The government, he added, had failed to ensure that the foundation observed the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.

The court, however, dismissed a third case concerning a boy from Hyogo Prefecture, saying his death had been caused by influenza, not the MMR vaccine.

 

Families win lawsuit over MMR vaccine
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030314a7.htm
OSAKA (Kyodo) The government and a research center affiliated with Osaka University were handed a court order Thursday to pay a total of 155 million yen to the families of two children who died or suffered side effects after receiving the MMR vaccine.
The vaccine, which covers measles, mumps and rubella, has since been banned because of its high side effects rate.

The families of three children who were given the vaccine between 1989 and 1991 had sued the government and Osaka University's Research Institute for Microbial Diseases for a total 350 million yen in damages, claiming that their children had developed aseptic meningitis as a result.

The Osaka District Court stated that the institute produced the vaccine via a method different from that submitted to the health ministry and was the likely reason for the ensuing problems.

Presiding Judge Shinichi Yoshikawa ruled that vaccinations are procedures "that the state actively carries out from the perspective of protecting society."

He added that the government neglected its responsibility over the supervision of vaccine manufacturers and for ensuring that they follow the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.

It is the first time that a court has ruled on a damages case related to the vaccine, whose side effects have affected about 1,800 people nationwide.

The court ruled that the death of the son of a couple in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, and the serious brain damage suffered by 13-year-old Hana Ueno, from Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, were caused by the MMR vaccine.

It ruled, however, that the child of a couple in Hyogo Prefecture died after contracting influenza.

Legal experts said that the ruling, which accorded the government a hefty supervisory responsibility over vaccinations, could have a great impact on future health administration and medicine-related lawsuits.

The Japan Times: March 14, 2003
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