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This morning, as reported earlier, Michele Bachmann went even further, lending credence to a notion that Gardasil -- used in vaccines to prevent HPV, which can cause cervical cancer -- can cause mental retardation.
“I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Florida, after the debate,” Bachmann said. “She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter.”
Bachmann was using this in an attack on Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who had signed an executive order mandating that girls get the vaccine. And there are certainly questions over why Perry signed the order. His former chief of staff Mike Toomey, as the Washington Post points out, "was working at the time as an Austin-based lobbyist for Merck, which was in the midst of a multimillion-dollar campaign to persuade states to make the vaccine mandatory."
But there’s no evidence to suggest the vaccine causes mental retardation.
The CDC directed First Read to the side effects page for Gardasil. They include pain, redness, or swelling in the arm where the shot was given, mild-to-moderate fever, headache, or fainting.
Not surprisingly, there was nothing on mental retardation.
CDC spokeswoman Rita Chappelle said in an email, “The Institute of Medicine released a report on August 25 looking at adverse events from vaccines, including HPV. Rare cases of anaphylaxis was the only type of adverse event seen with HPV vaccine.”
That's a severe allergic reaction.
And the Food and Drug Administration and CDC also reported: “Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) has also been reported in individuals following vaccination with Gardasil. GBS is a rare neurological disorder that causes muscle weakness. It occurs spontaneously in unvaccinated individuals after a variety of specific infections. FDA and CDC have reviewed the reports of GBS that have been submitted to VAERS. To date, there is no evidence that Gardasil has increased the rate of GBS above that expected in the population. While we continue to carefully analyze all reports of GBS submitted to VAERS, the data do not currently suggest an association between Gardasil and GBS.”
The left and right have taken shots at Bachmann for her comments.
That's quite the accusation, one that Ben Smith has already gotten a rebuttal to from the Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership. The CDC has recommended Gardisil, warning that the only verified side-effect has been rare cases of blood clots and an immune system disorder. I'm not doubting that a woman came up to Bachmann and said this. News flash: Vaccine luddism is rather widespread (especially so in some affluent areas where moms listen to Oprah, according to research I've seen from Seth Mnookin), and just because a mother might say something like this does not mean it reflects what actually happened. The fact that it's Bachmann embracing this -- Bachmann, who has a habit of endorsing or "just asking questions" about dark theories that she's overheard -- is totally unsurprising.
Even conservative blog Free Republic:
Huh? “Mental retardation” typically takes place in a pre- or neo-natal event. Autism becomes apparent in the first couple of years of life — and primarily affects boys. Gardasil vaccinations take place among girls between 9-12 years of age. Even assuming that this anecdote is arguably true, it wouldn’t be either “mental retardation” or autism, but brain damage. …
The “mental retardation” argument is a rehash of the thoroughly discredited notion that vaccines containing thimerasol caused a rapid increase in diagnosed autism cases. That started with a badly-botched report in Lancet that allowed one researcher to manipulate a ridiculously small sample of twelve cases in order to reach far-sweeping conclusions about thimerasol. That preservative hasn’t been included in vaccines for years, at least not in the US, and the rate of autism diagnoses remain unchanged.
The most charitable analysis that can be offered in this case for Bachmann is that she got duped into repeating a vaccine-scare urban legend on national television. It looks more like Bachmann sensed that she had won a point and wanted to go in for the kill, didn’t bother to check the facts, and didn’t care that she was stoking an anti-vaccination paranoid conspiracy theory, either. Neither shines a particularly favorable light on Bachmann.
Ironically, Rick Perry, who had been accused by Jon Huntsman of being “anti science” said this to NBC’s Carrie Dann today:
"You heard the same arguments about giving our children protections from some of the childhood diseases, and they were autism was part of that. Now we've subsequently found out that was generated and not true.” He added: “I would suggest to you that this issue about Gardasil and making it available was about saving people's lives.”
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Of course there is no truth to bachmanns rant.... if this sad woman ever found a fact she would have to run it past all of the voices in her head before repeating it.
Bachmann is one of those people that needs to take responsibility for what comes out of her mouth. Any time she's caught out in a falsehood she blames it on someone else. She needs to step up and own her comments. Serious lack of moral fiber. And good sense.
Bonehead is controlled by the T-Nuts.
Bachmann, Perry, Palin & the T-Nuts can go to Hell.
so, this begs the question...How many "retard" vacinations has Bachmann had? She should be liable for the next 100 cases of ovarian cancer. BECAUSE...many people believe that she has a mandate from heaven.
Whats in Bachmann's head ?
The gop T-Nuts should be prosecuted for treason for deliberately Sabotaging our Nation.
Does this woman ever think before she speaks? I'd say she needs to know the facts before she starts spouting her mouth!
By the way - has anyone explained to her that with mascara "LESS" is more...She looks like she has mascara caked on...Its wonder she can open her eyes! Well maybe thats part of the problem!
S.S., Is a ponzi scheme, Perry is a good old boy. "When Pigs Fly".
Bachmann is making sure to show her good side ?
No, it actually helps you vote for Tea Party endorsed candidates.
I think I figured out what is wrong withc Michelle Bachman, her and her ma had a triple shot of the vaccination... would explain A LOT of what comes out of her mouth.
Why is it in America the dumbest of folks, those that couldn't find their way out of a barn when the door is open, are elevated to the position of leader? Why?
Bachmann's husband is parying for Perry ?
Bachmann believes the shot heard around the world was fired in New Hampshire.
Once again, Mrs. Bachmann opens her mouth and inserts foot. Nothing like playing to the far extreme of your party to alienate everyone else. If there was a breast cancer or prostate cancer vaccine there wouldn't be so much moral rhetoric going on. But, because Gardisil protects against an STD and it's far better to use fear a weapon to promote abstinence than it is to protect our children from a life altering or ending illness. Knowledge is power and apparently Mrs. Bachmann doesn't have the juice to illuminate on this subject.
Actually there might be. Most Fundamentalists really don't believe in Medicine. They prefer "God's Healing'.
And FYI: The agents that cause STD's may NOT be merely transmitted by s*x. It has been proven that they can be transmitted by other means much like AIDS. Abstinence may not help.
Abstinence certainly won't help if you spouse was already infected or you are sexually assaulted by an infected individual. Abstinence only education doesn't keep kids from having sex, it just keeps them from having the knowledge they need to protect themselves from STDs and unplanned pregnancies.
Michele Bachmann is simply employing a technique learned from the former Soviet Union Communists: Tell a big lie, repeat it endlessly and eventually those incapable of independent thought will believe it.
The headline should read "No evidence to suggest Bachmann has a brain".
Being a TP/GOP has its share of "looney tune" characters running for the 2012 Offices. That is the bad side of being a Fundamentalist Christian. They each believe that they are the "Second Coming of Christ" but instead are the "Anti-Christ" posing as "Christ". Now it is up to the public, at large, to determine which one is the real "Anti-Christ" and which ones are "Posers".
The only retardation is Michelle's.
Just why is it that every time a Republican is caught in a lie, someone trots out something President Obama supposedly said? Never mind that the Obama "quotes" are often mis-quotes, taken out of context, or paraphrased to change their meaning; that isn't the point. The question for Republicans is, are you justifying one wrong by pointing out another? So everything I was taught as a child about two wrongs not making a right is ... wrong? Republican ethics?
This woman is just a dope. One big dope. Anyone who would vote for her needs to have their head examined.
you smarmy pseudo-intellectuals who think that the government would never mandate a vaccine that wasn't safe, just google "Hong Kong Flu" and "Guillan Barre Syndrome".
never read where anyone supports a mandate for this vaccine...
The Hong Kong Flu epidemic was in 1968, and the first flu shot program, unveiled under President Geralf Ford, was in 1976. How a 1976 flu shot cause an epidemic eight years earlier is beyond me.
Note that the possibility of a link between immunizations (not just flu shots) and Guillian Barre Syndrome has been studied but not confirmed.
No governmental mandate has ever been advanced. There are recommendations, which you can take seriously or not. Cheers.
I think we should have another public forum, like the debates, in which every one of the candidates get told all their lies and untruth's and given the opportunity to explain why they chose to distort and lie in order to get a sound bite. They should also be told that unless they present irrefutable proof of their statements, they must own up to the fact they are lying.
From now on, fact checking should be done on ALL statements disseminated to the public. They should be confronted PUBLICLY, as soon as they utter lies and not be allowed to continue to utter their irresponsible statements as fact. Why do we tolerate this?
Just like newspapers that print salacious headlines on the front page which everyone reads and takes as fact but when confronted with truths and lawsuits and are forced into retracting their lies, only print the truth on the 22nd page in small type. Truth should be the most important thing.
Same goes for all political parties..... just because it makes for a good sound bite doesn't make it so. The GOP debates have been throwing lies at Obama, they should be called on them. Even treatment for all on behalf of "we the people"..... or do you want to continue to be fooled? I don't and I'm sick and tired of it. Don't twist the truth to suit your needs, be truthful.....
Bachman might have got it wrong about brain damage, but the same gardisil vaccine has killed many young girls.
Nah it causes brain damage too. The VAERS database is full of reports of gardasil doing this. The article flat out lies and the author didn't even bother to look. I mean it's public information for crying out loud and the media still tries to lie about it.
Wow. Bachmann believes anything any random person walks up and says to her. Real smart.
OBAMA 2012.
Keep America out of extremist hands.
Keep America out of Obama's hands..........."Solyndra, which was hailed by President Obama in 2010 as an innovative company that would use stimulus money to create jobs and lead the economic recovery, laid off most of its 1,100 workers Aug. 31 and announced it would cease operations. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sept. 6."
So much for the President's "jobs bill" aka "stimulus 2"
Umm, Leona, Solyndra has nothing whatsoever to do with the "Stimulus 2" bill. Nice try, though.
Warren, put down the kool aid. Maybe if you sober up, you won't believe all the flowery Obama speeches and you'll see things for what they really are. Nancy Pelosi told the Dems not to use the word "stimulus" because of the $780 billion "stimulus" debacle, so the words changed but the scam is the same! WAKE UP.