bachmann ambition overdrive Debunking Michele Bachmann’s HPV Vaccine Anecdote 
 
 Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the debate for Rick Perry last night was the onslaught he faced over his controversial decision as governor to sign an executive order mandating that 12-year-old girls receive a vaccination for HPV, a virus that can cause cervical cancer. Not only had Perry abused his power by bypassing the legislature (which eventually overturned the executive order), but he did so in a way that put the health of innocent children at risk. Or so Michele Bachmann alleged, to some of the loudest applause of the night. "Little girls who have a negative reaction to this potentially dangerous drug don't get a mulligan," Bachmann proclaimed. "They don't get a do-over. The parents don't get a do-over." 
 
 To further underscore the dangers of the drug, Bachmann, in a post-debate interview, told Fox News that a woman had approached her after the debate and told her that she had a daughter who "suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine": 
 
 Bachmann shared the same story on the Today show this morning, telling Matt Lauer that the woman's "little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter": 
 
 Clearly, Bachmann sees the Gardasil issue as a political winner, and it appears that she plans on bludgeoning Perry with it for as long as she can. She'd be foolish not to — her pointed critiques of Perry last night (including the accusation that he signed the executive order as a favor to the drug company Merck) seemed to invigorate her flagging campaign. 
 
 But her focus on the health hazards of the drug is starting to border on demagoguery. Her use of this woman's anecdote, for example, is misleading at best, and disingenuous at worst. 
 
 According to a Center for Disease Control page devoted to health concerns surrounding HPV vaccines, 35 million doses of Gardasil were distributed as of June 22, 2011, resulting in 18,727 reports of adverse events. Ninety-two percent of those adverse events were "non-serious" and included things like "fainting, pain, and swelling at the injection site (the arm), headache, nausea, and fever." Among the serious adverse events were reports of the neurological disorder Guillain-Barré Syndrome, blood clots, and death. There's no mention on the CDC page of any reports of Gardasil resulting in mental retardation. 
 
 Just to double check, we asked Dr. Kevin Ault, an associate professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University and an investigator in the clinical trials for Gardasil, whether he's familiar with allegations that Gardasil can result in mental retardation. "I've not heard that one before," he told us. He added that even for the serious adverse effects that have been reported, there's been no evidence that they were actually caused by Gardasil. "There's been a nice study from the CDC," he said, "that basically [showed that] if you compare a group of people who got the vaccine to a group of people who didn't get the vaccine, all these things are rare and they occur equally" in both groups. 

 WASHINGTON -- What looked initially like a winning debate point for Michele Bachmann has prompted a chorus of protest against the Minnesota Republican, with some of the most scathing comments coming from her fellow conservatives. 
 
 Now a University of Minnesota scientist and his former boss are offering more than $10,000 in rewards if the story Bachmann told after Monday's GOP presidential debate in Tampa about a vaccine causing mental disability can be verified. 
 
 Bachmann sparked the controversy by telling Fox News and "The Today Show" that a woman came up to her after the debate and said that her daughter's mental disability had been caused by a vaccination against HPV, the human papilloma virus. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer. 
 
 The Minnesota congresswoman appeared to have scored points against Texas Gov. Rick Perry at the debate by attacking him for issuing an executive order that required sixth-grade girls to receive the vaccine. Bachmann called it "flat out wrong" to force girls to get a "government injection." 
 
 Afterward, she continued to press that issue in televised comments. 
 
 "There's a woman that came up crying to me tonight after the debate," Bachmann told Fox News. "She said her daughter was given that vaccine. She said her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine." 
 
 Later, on Sean Hannity's radio show, Bachmann said she had "no idea" if the HPV vaccine was linked to mental disability. "I'm not a doctor, I'm not a scientist, I'm not a physician," she said. "All I was doing is reporting what this woman told me last night at the debate." 
 
 But it was too late to stop the blowback. 
 
 The American Academy of Pediatrics said of Bachmann's claim: "There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement." 
 
 Some conservative writers piled on, with one calling the statement "beyond ridiculous,'' on the National Review website. Rush Limbaugh told his listeners that Bachmann may have "jumped the shark'' with the story. 
 
 University of Minnesota bioethicist Steve Miles is now offering $1,000 if the woman Bachmann described comes forward with medical proof that her daughter was left mentally disabled because of the vaccination. Art Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics and Miles' former boss at the U, went further -- offering $10,000 if the woman's claim is verified. 
 
 "These types of messages in this climate have the capacity to do enormous public health harm," Miles said of why he made the offer. "It's an extremely serious claim and it deserves to be analyzed." 
 
 Miles and Caplan said they are prepared to pay should the medical records be released. 
 
 Nearly lost in the noise was Bachmann's initial accusation of "crony capitalism" against Perry. At the debate he told her that vaccine maker Merck had given him $5,000. "If you're saying I can be bought off for $5,000 ... I'm offended," he said. 
 
 In fact, Perry received nearly $30,000 from Merck before signing the order, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. 
 
 Perry took advantage of the outcry Wednesday, telling reporters after a Virginia fundraiser that Bachmann's claim of ties between mental disability and the vaccination had "no basis in fact." 
 
 Bachmann's former campaign manager, Ed Rollins, who now serves in an advisory role, said she had erred. 
 
 "The quicker she admits she made a mistake and moves on, the better," Rollins said on MSNBC. 
 
 Jeremy Herb • 202-408-2723 Twitter: @StribHerb
– Doctors are so outraged over the scare story about the HPV vaccine that Michele Bachmann told this week—and so sure it’s baseless—that they’re offering a hefty reward for anyone who can prove it’s true. In two interviews, Bachmann said a crying mother had approached her after Monday’s debate to say that her daughter had “suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine,” according to New York Magazine. Bachmann later backed off, saying she was just repeating what a woman told her. But that’s not enough for University of Minnesota bioethicist Steve Miles, who has offered a $1,000 reward if the woman Bachmann spoke to can come forward with medical evidence to prove her claim, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. His old boss, the head of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, jumped in and one-upped him, offering a $10,000 bounty. “These types of messages in this climate have the capacity to do enormous public health harm,” Miles explains. “It’s an extremely serious claim.”