HPV - Holy Political Volatility, Batman!

This is Sciencey Friday (MOIF) but there is a bit of a political slant to it today. Seems like there's a bit of a political slant to everything these days...

The vaccine for HPV, human papilloma virus, has been controversial even before it was available. All vaccines seem to have controversy surrounding them but the HPV vaccine has the additional burden of being a vaccine to prevent diseases that come from having sex. [Insert: all this particular STD requires is skin to skin contact - no actual "sexual intercourse" necessary.] So instead of parents/clinicians/schools/governments/scientists being able to make intelligent decisions based on facts they have been asked to take a political stance on what should be a medical issue. If you've been following the news you'll know that Michele Bachmann made an issue of it in the recent republican debate and in the days following made statements linking the vaccine with mental retardation.

To date there is no research that supports a link between the HPV vaccine and mental retardation (or any other significant adverse health effect from any of the usual vaccines other than anaphylaxis which can occur in response to any allergen) concludes the Institute of Medicine in their August report.  The American Academy of Pediatrics also states that there is "absolutely no scientific validity" to Bachmann's claims. On NPR this morning I heard someone offer one thousand dollars to anyone who can produce a documented case of mental retardation resulting from the HPV vaccine.

This all makes me very happy. People, especially people with access to a microphone and a mass audience, should not make sloppy claims for personal gain. If Bachmann is right she'll be exonerated. If she is proven wrong I hope the value of truth in science will receive some attention. It is time for science to regain the respect it deserves and of which it is so recently (think global warming) deprived.

** On a side note, Scientific American has written articles about the lack of scientific evidence linking vaccines to autism and what happens to public health when parents refuse to vaccinate their children.