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Subscribe to RSSThere’s long been a prominent debate in the autism community over vaccines and whether they cause the disorder. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found no evidence to support that fear. And diseases long thought to be wiped out in the U.S., like measles, for example, have made a comeback because of parents who have refused to inoculate their children.
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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bachmann lives on her on her own planet and IT'S NOT PLANET EARTH !!!
When ever I think of Perry, I am reminded that another village in Texas is missing its' idiot. However, Bachmann makes him look like a rocket scientist.
The Msnbc "reporters" are attacking Bachmann again. Oh my, how terribly stupid she is !! She said the vaccine can cause mental retardation ! Then the article proceeds to say the vaccine can cause anaphylaxis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, blood clots and an immune system disorder, which are all probably worse! Haha
Fact check: you guys are the Repub. attack machine and call yourselves "reporters".
A fact is a fact. Bachmann is immune from facts. I wonder what immunization made her that way?
THERMEN, HERE'S ANOTHER FACT. I work in a health profession and I know that it takes years administering a new vaccine before we really know what damages can be done. In the 50's there was a drug given to women so they wouldn't have miscarraiges and many of these women had "thalidamide babies" who were missing arms etc. Michelle Bachman is skeptical about vaccines as one should be and wants the choice to be left to the parents of any child before these vaccines are mandated.
Leona, I'm sure you mean well in defending her, but Michelle doesn't understand a lot of the most important things that any public figure needs to know. One of which is that the things she says HAVE AN EFFECT, and SHE doesn't get to pick what that effect is.
She said what she said in an attempt to imply that Perry was making people retarded, and that they should therefore reject him and elect her instead because she wouldn't do that. But since there's a body of evidence suggesting strongly that what she said isn't true, what people HEARD was "I'm willing to say anything, regardless of whether it's true or not, to try to make me look good and my opponents look bad". What does that say about her ability to lead the country? Or anything else, for that matter? Pretty much everyone else here appears to have heard it that way. If you want to be more generous, go ahead, but you're out on limb alone on this one.
Besides which, there's plenty of other independent evidence that she's not, ahem, a very critical and logical thinker. So this just reinforces the impression that people (a LOT of people) have of her, to wit, that she's a nitwit. From an electability standpoint, she's been a non-starter from day 1, Iowa notwithstanding.
This is the same croud that would eliminate the FDA because it is part of the evil government so that we would require only the word of the manufacturer before a drug could go to market. I am having trouble with all their contradictions. If you stake out a possition based on absolutes this is the type of illogical nonsense that you end up with.
Shouldn't she be a Blonde?
She's washed up, finished. But at least we know what the Tea Party stands for, extreme views. Most Americans are not extreme. None of them won the debate, but they were successful at looking ignorant.
Bachmann was vaccinated with stupid
What kills me is, didn't she get put on some "intelligence" committee not too long ago?
I am absolutely amazed that an elected official would repeat something as proposterous as a youth becoming mentally retarded as a result of the HPV vaccine. In Canada it is made available to youths upon parental consent. Money is spent on educating all people about HPV and the vaccine as a preventitive measure for cancer. Families can discuss this and make an educated discision.
My other concern...Mrs. Bachmann perhaps you should spend some time in the education system. While yes some 12 yr. old girls are "innocent children" sadly a large majority are very knowledgeable about sex and are in some way sexually active. I am an educator and deal with these issues on a daily basis. FYI...none of my 12yr old girls have suddenly become "Mentally Retarded".<------Politically incorrect and outdated terminology!
I love American Politics.
She didn't lie she put her "spin" on the story. The media, politicians, athletes and doctors don't lie they just put their "spin" on things. You know the ole cliche', "Don't believe anything you read an only half of what you hear." or however it goes. Don't believe anything a politician tells you.
Bachman is so willing to make herself look like a fruit loop that she would take one woman's claim and use it as a platform for a weak attack against Perry. More of her fruity perceptions will arise as time goes on. Not a big fan of hers.
It's sad that she will just make a statement like this because she wants to put Perry down so she can get back some of the support she lost when he entered the race. Because of her greed and hunger for the nomination (which will never happen), she gave the other side ammo to use against Perry. Fortunately, I think he can handle it.
Maybe Perry genuinely believes that it is less expensive for the State of Texas to pay for a vaccine for young girls than to treat cervical cancer or HPV in women. Perhaps he listened to women and doctors. Just because Bachman said that he did it out of "crony capitalism" doesn't make it so. She needed to attack because Perry took a lot of her support and she certainly did that. I recognize why she said what she did, but I find it sad that she has given the other side some ammo to use. It's amazing that the same people who don't believe her will just believe what she said!
So far about 80 teenage girls have died directly after getting this vaccination. Numbers are rising. Bachmann might use this for her own advantage, as every politician does.
Still, facts remain facts.
The vaccine is supported by "every organization I know of, from the American Cancer Society to the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend routine vaccinations for girls, particularly those age 9 to 11, says Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecologic cancer for the American Cancer Society." I suppose there are risks associated with every vaccine, but the benefitis of the vaccine outweigh the risks.
This is a bogus claim from the rediculous e-mails that fly around the internet. 32 deaths have occurred in women who have had the vaccine, none of which show evidence that the vaccine contributed to the deaths. Let's review for the especially slow; Over 23 million doses have been distributed so far with a very low percentage showing any side effects at all and NO Deaths that can be reliably attributed to Gardasil.
Bachmann is acting like a "little girl".
Did she get the vaccine? Maybe she knows for sure.
Ha ha ha - Jeff - funny!! I agree with Perry, though, that this vaccine was important for young girls and he did the right thing. Parents could opt out...How could Bachman stand there and think young girls of 12 or 13 are innocent these days? She is right on about Obamacare, though....no lies there.
And Bachman's nose continues to grow
wait, we may be misjudging bachmann. she must have been taking the vaccine herself. who would know the horrible side effects better?
Mickey is not being 100% totally honest with the public she asks to trust her with our lives? isn't that why we have elections, to get rid of trash like her?
Obviously Bachmann has used the vaccine. That would explain a lot.
The Minnesota Congress woman, the most vacuous political mind, this side of Sarah Palin....continues unabated on her fellatious rants and unsubtantiated accuastions of any candidate, or president, who she views as her target Du jour....She knows that she's pretzeling the truth, what little there might be to her criticisms ...but, as long as the media doesn't call her , and or any other candidate, out for their obvious misstatements or lack of factual support...they'll continue to spew their garbage and have thier base clamoring for more.
Insofar as the CNN " Tea Party Debate" or Debacle....or any of the televised gatherings of this sort for that matter..... How can anyone much less these blow bags of talking points, give an answer, their views, anything of substance on..... let's pick something topical, "The Economy", for instance, in ONE MINUTE!!!!!!!! The short answer to that question is they CAN'T!
Here's a novel thought...for the next "debate" make it two or three hours long, Cover ONE Topic, there's certainly enough to choose from...Then prior to the, debate post all of the salient FACTS online, as well as have them available for the moderators and a panel of experts at the debate.....so that these flights of non-factual, rhetorical fancy can be halted for what they are....contrivances.
The Politicians would also be told that aside from the scoring from the congressional budget office on who, or what, administration is holding the bag for deficit spending, legislation, successes and failures they are only to talk in terms of what THEY WOULD DO....WHAT ARE THEIR SOLUTIONS!!!!....Aside from that approach, or something similar, these "debates" are no more than farces....and make thi country look assinine in the process......
you know, on the front page of msnbc, there is a headline "Bachmann blasts Perry over HPV vaccine", with a thing to vote whether govt should be allowed to mandate it, or is it parents choice. This is a clever way of sidestepping the fact that Texas had a parental "opt out" for this. The way it gets spun, brown shirted thugs from law enforcement are snatching up girls and sticking em with needles. Get with reality people. It's just not fox news that stretches the truth, liberal outlets do the same thing.
There is certainly something going on with some of these vaccines and what they can cause. Our grandson got three shots last summer (2010) and broke out in blotches all over his body which went on until he saw a specialist for his ears 5 months later. Finding an ear infection, the Dr order liquid sulfa for 10 days and the blotches went away after the second dose and have never come back. Sulfa flushes out the body among many things. Don't tell us what is masking these vaccines is not harmful to children. This is probably as big as agent orange is with our Vietnam Vets and no one wants the finger pointing at them. Drug companies are in a big business and they won't admit to nothing!
need to develope a vaccine against "flake"
I have not heard it related to MR, but the side effects can be horrific. To bad she is such a moron.
Then what was the cause of Michelle's retardation? This drug wasn't even invented 60 years ago when she was in her formative years. Maybe she just got dropped on her head too many times.