The stupidity of politicians never ceases to amaze me…

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goat_defaultThe ignoramus of the week (so often bestowed upon politicians) goes not to Inhofe who brought a snowball into congress, or the representative from Idaho who thinks you can do a gynecological exam by swallowing a camera, but to New York’s Thomas J. Abinanti who has NO CLUE how vaccines work and just strung a few whiz bang buzz words together because it sounded sciencey (thus the crazy goat picture, which I adore).
Defying Science And Common Sense, New York Bill Would Ban GMOs In Vaccines – Forbes.
The introduced bill A01706:
PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF VACCINES CONTAINING GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS.
1. NO PERSON SHALL BE VACCINATED WITH A VACCINE THAT CONTAINS GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS.
2. “GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISM” SHALL MEAN: (A) AN ORGANISM THAT HAS BEEN ALTERED AT THE MOLECULAR OR CELLULAR LEVEL BY MEANS THAT ARE NOT POSSIBLE UNDER NATURAL CONDITIONS OR PROCESSES, INCLUDING RECOMBINANT DNA AND RNA TECHNIQUES, CELL FUSION, MICROENCAPSULATION, MACROENCAPSULATION, GENE DELETION AND DOUBLING, INTRODUCTION OF A FOREIGN GENE, AND A PROCESS THAT CHANGES THE POSITIONS OF GENES, OTHER THAN A MEANS CONSISTING EXCLUSIVELY OF BREEDING, CONJUGATION, FERMENTATION, HYBRIDIZATION, IN VITRO FERTILIZATION, OR TISSUE CULTURE; AND (B) AN ORGANISM MADE THROUGH SEXUAL OR ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION, OR BOTH, INVOLVING AN ORGANISM DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS SUBDIVISION, IF POSSESSING ANY OF THE ALTERED MOLECULAR OR CELLULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORGANISM SO DESCRIBED.
Oh. My. Gosh. He might have asked someone who knew what the f**k they were talking about before embarrassing himself like this. Vaccines are created by modifying the virus so that it will provoke the necessary immune response but NOT make you sick. If you use the unmodified organism, the risk would be tremendously higher and the procedure much less safe.
From Forbes:
The technologies that would be banned are exactly the ones that allows scientists to make vaccines safe, said Offit. In the early 20th century, vaccine scientists made genetic modifications with cruder techniques – altering viruses by infecting eggs, embryos or animal organs, allowing viruses to proliferate and using trial and error to find versions that protected people with relative safety. Now we have precision techniques for eliminating dangerous parts of viruses and including those that prompt protective immunity.
I am appalled by uneducated buffoons who seek to make LAWS for the people they represent. Granted, a lot of dumb bills are proposed and, like this one, will go nowhere and be forgotten. Let’s not forget this, though. Extremists ideas of all sorts can do harm. If Abinanti is your rep, please contact his office and ask if he intended to kill people with this law? And then ask him if he would like to buy a clue. How vaccines work.
Tip: Society for Science-Based Medicine

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