THE controversy over the safety of the MMR jab was reignited last night when a North-East researcher claimed he had found evidence of a link with autism.

Autism may have been triggered by the triple vaccine in as many as one-in-ten sufferers, according to Paul Shattock, of Sunderland University.

Only two weeks ago an independent analysis of all the scientific evidence to date on the triple mumps, measles and rubella jab concluded that parents should be reassured about the safety of the MMR vaccine.

But Mr Shattock, director of Sunderland University's autism research unit, said his unpublished study of 4,000 cases nationwide suggested there was a direct link.

He stressed more research was needed into the link between the disease and the controversial triple vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella.

The unit has been conducting research into autism since the late 1980s, but Mr Shattock said there was growing evidence of a link.

Mr Shattock, a retired pharmacist who is an unpaid researcher at the university, said he believed his unit would eventually have concrete proof of a link between autism and the controversial jab as his long-running research continued.

"What we are getting now is much harder evidence," he said. "Our new methodology should answer the question very soon. If we are right, and I think we are going to be right, then the implications are going to be huge."

Mr Shattock, whose son is autistic, said the latest reliable figures show that one in every 150 children suffer from the autism spectrum disorder, and if his unit's findings remain at the ten per cent mark, then one in every 1,500 MMR jabs will trigger autism.

"You might think that is a risk worth taking, but that represents a lot of children," he said.

Of the 4,000 children tested, urine samples from the ten per cent whose parents blamed their condition on the jab were very different from samples provided by the 90 per cent whose parents did not think there was a link.

Mr Shattock said: "Ten per cent of the parents alleged MMR triggered autism and our evidence would tend to support what they say."

The urinary profiles showed various differences from those children suffering from autism whose parents did not blame the MMR jab.

Mr Shattock added: "The chemicals in their urine are different from typical forms of autism. The clinical history is different, the symptomology is also fairly different and there are biological markers we are finding in the urine of the children which are different."

Debbie Cole, the Tyneside mother who persuaded the private organisation Direct Health 2000 there was a big enough demand for single vaccines in the region to set up a regular clinic, said: "The new research findings are not surprising.

"More research needs to be done to establish the real cause of problems like autism."

Kathryn Durnford, for Direct Health 2000, said: "This is a very significant breakthrough. We have known about these findings for about six months but they are finally out in the open.

"Mr Shattock has identified a different type of autism linked to the MMR vaccine."

But former MMR sceptic Jane O'Byrne, from Darlington, said she had "reluctantly" decided to give her daughter, Samantha, the jab "because if the World Health Organisation says it is safe, it must be all right".

The Department of Health maintains there is no evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, and the Medical Research Council has repeatedly stressed that independent studies had given "strong, positive evidence" that there is no link.