Health Expert Offers Bachmann $10,000 If She Can Provide One Case Proving

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Health Expert Offers Bachmann $10,000 If She Can Provide One Case Proving HPV Vaccine Causes Retardation
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/09/15/319281/health-expert-offers-bachmann-10000-if-she-can-provide-one-case-proving-hpv-vaccine-causes-retardation/

On her quest for relevance, GOP former presidential front runner Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN) is sprinting forward with her attack on fellow candidate Gov. Rick Perry (TX) for mandating girls in Texas receive the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Finding success in the ferocity of her first attack, Bachmann took it one step further by championing the idea that the vaccine can cause “mental retardation.”

With that, Bachmann, once again, oversteps the line. The medical community quickly shot down the idea that the HPV vaccine is dangerous. In fact, University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Art Caplan is offering $10,000 to Bachmann’s charity of choice if she can provide one case that proves her claim:

Caplan, who has made the offer via Twitter, to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, on the radio stations WTVN and WOR, also proposes that Bachmann should donate $10,000 to the charity of his choice if such a patient can be produced. He says her campaign hasn’t responded. He writes:

More at link

(snip)
“The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation,” the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record.”

[xchrom]

1. C'mon Bachman - step in it - more than you have already. Nt

[Demeter]

2. She need only offer herself as the evidence

[gratuitous]

3. Put up or shut up, Ms. Bachmann

Will we see national wall-to-wall coverage of Dr. Caplan's offer, like we did of Ms. Bachmann's original anti-factual remark? Magic 8 Ball says, "Reply hazy. Ask again later."

[HockeyMom]

4. ANY medication carries risks for SOME people

My Dad was allergic to penicillin. Although it was noted on his chart when he went into the hospital, he was given a blood transfusion using blood from someone who had taken penicillin. Dad went into cardiac arrest. Should we BAN all penicillin because one person has a severe reaction to it? Absolutely not, because the benefits outweigh the few adverse reactions to it.

[Bluebear]

5. Except in this case the woman is LYING

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Gardisil does have side effects for some people, just like any vaccine.

But metal retardation isn't one of them. During the debate Bachmann made a valid point, that Perry's vaccination requirement was motivated by a contribution from Merck - and I have no doubt that's true; while the vaccine may be a good thing, I suspect Perry's motivation was more to benefit a potential contributor than to benefit the girls of Texas. And she should have left it at that instead of later bringing up the (alleged) conversation with a woman who claimed the vaccine had caused her daughter to become mentally retarded. If that conversation had really occurred, what Bachmann should have done was noncommittally offered the women her sympathy - and then do some research to find out whether there is any evidence such a side effect had ever occurred. If there was none (and there isn't), she doesn't mention it, but just keeps hammering Perry on the very valid point that he was ordering the vaccinations to get campaign contributions.

Bachmann never knows when to shut up.

[HockeyMom]

7. I worked for an international pharmaceutical corp many years ago

Are they corrupt and only looking out for the bottom line? Of course. Do people lie about reactions? Absolutely. But it has to be determined on a case by case basis, not a one size fits all.

[rbixby]

8. Doesn't this go against the usual republican belief

that the HPV vaccine turns all women into whores?

[McCamy Taylor]

9. She should have said the vaccine is a "green light to having sex". That is what the base thinks.

The base does not like it when a candidate attacks big business or when a candidate attacks an opponent on money. Remember, the GOP slimes with sex, not money. She should have made it all about the sex.