NY Assemmbly man seeks bill banning namy vaccines

[dragon]

While many of the bills introduced in state legislatures attempt to interfere with science education, there are a number that, through misguided fears, attempt to eliminate some of the benefits of scientific or technological developments. These efforts are often focused on radiation, such as that from Wi-Fi and cell phones, but they can target just about any item that's the subject of unsubstantiated worries (and the problems aren't limited to the US states, either).

Genetically modified organisms are another technological development that, by all indications, are safe for human consumption. But some of the public is uneasy with the technology, and naturally there are legislators who are either members of or representatives of this constituency. New York state assemblyman Thomas Abinanti (D) appears to be one of them and, in his rush to keep the public safe from genetically modified organisms, is now trying to outlaw major public safety developments: vaccines.

Abinanti has introduced a bill that would outlaw the use of any vaccine that contains a genetically modified organism. This would include any organism that has had genes deleted or added to it, unless that addition occurred through a process like selective breeding or hybridization.

Thus, if scientists were able to specifically delete virulence factors from a bacterial pathogen in order to turn it into a harmless vaccine strain, this law would prevent its use in New York. Instead, scientists would have to put the virus through random mutation and hope to come up with the right combination of mutations to accomplish precisely the same thing.

The bill would also outlaw the use of most of the promising Ebola vaccine candidates, which involve splicing one of Ebola's genes into a harmless virus. And, as Forbes' coverage notes, one of the current vaccines available against rotavirus was developed through an unnatural reassortment of genes from several viral strains—an efficient way to protect against all the strains with a single vaccine.

In short, this legislator's panic over the term "genetically modified organism" threatens to keep one of the most populous states from major public health advances provided by modern biotechnology.

link

[TheHammer]

Seen too many movies regarding genetically modified virii that got out of control I suspect.

[Borgholio]

At least he's not trying to ban ALL vaccines. I mean this is dumb yeah but at least he's not one of those foaming at the mouth anti-vaxxers.

[Simon_Jester]

No, he's one of those foaming-at-the-mouth anti-genetics people who thinks we should ban products because "OH MY GOD THEY HAVE DNA IN THEM!"

[Borgholio]

Oh...one of those.

[Kingmaker]

No, he's one of those foaming-at-the-mouth anti-genetics people who thinks we should ban products because "OH MY GOD THEY HAVE DNA IN THEM!"

Without DNA there'd be no cancer.

QED.

[Flagg]

No, he's one of those foaming-at-the-mouth anti-genetics people who thinks we should ban products because "OH MY GOD THEY HAVE DNA IN THEM!"

Someone must have spliced some anti-vaccination genes into his already anti-GMO DNA! He would agree that the best course of action is to Quarantine him someplace remote with no other humans for many hundreds or thousands of miles.
The answer is obvious ladies and gentlemen, we must build a 300 foot deep bunker with enough water and MRE's to sustain this man for 2 years deep in the mountains of Antarctica! If after 2 years he still feels the same way, then we know the GMO splicing hasn't worn off yet, at which point the rigorous removal of contaminated trash, wastewater, and solid waste followed by resupply all without risking exposure and a possible Genetically Modified Pandemic begins, and we wait...

I think that about sums up the ridiculous insanity on display by this legislator, while the containment bunker in Antarctica is an allegory for both the current bubble of fantasyland in which he currently resides, and the actual bubbles poor little children of the near future with severe immunity deficiencies who also cannot be immunized for some reason will have to live in who wouldn't need to except for the ignorant, selfish, and downright dangerous lunatics who refuse to vaccinate their children for anything short of actual health concerns by a doctor.
The only thing I failed to add to my allegory is all the people who are dead and will be because of people like this. Not just due to vaccine issues, but also due what I can only describe as a phobia of GMO's by the willfully ignorant who, should they be successful in their efforts, will lead to a lack of larger, healthier crop yields that will be necessary to feed our planets booming population.

As for this law, I don't know enough about the New York State Legislature to predict whether or not it will pass, but I don't trust Cuomo as far as I can throw him (and I'm not allowed to pick up anything heavier than a pillow) and I don't know how much sway the anti-GMO groups have over him and the Democrats in NY in general, but I know that unfortunately, many if not most of the ones I've come across tend to be liberal Democrats or "independents".