A MOTHER who claims her daughter developed autism after having the controversial MMR jab is backing calls for wider research. Colette Tierney, 36, from Prescot, says her daughter Lois, 10, started showing symptoms of the condition after having the triple jab in 1994. She has joined hundreds of families set to take legal action against drug firm Merck in the high court in London. Today scientists and parents called for more research into the causes of autism, which has been overshadowed by the debate over MMR. They now want a broad range of issues connected to autism to be examined. Ms Tierney, 37, said: "I welcome anything that looks into autism - and the sooner the better. "And it should be done by a research team that has no ties whatsoever and is totally independent." The call for more research follows a report, Mapping Autism Research, which highlights the lack of research into the causes of the condition. It also says there is a lack of funding for such studies compared to other countries. The study comes in light of continued speculation about a possible link between the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab and autism. Last week The Lancet said it regretted publishing research by Dr Andrew Wakefield. His work first linked MMR with autism, leading many parents to opt for single vaccines. The journal's editor Dr Richard Horton said he would not have published the research if he had known then that Dr Wakefield was being paid for a study looking for evidence to support legal action by parents who thought their children had been damaged by the vaccine. The report published yesterday by the Institute of Child Health, the National Autistic Society and the Parents Autism Campaign for Education, calls for wider research into all aspects of autism. | 
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