Politics

House Dem’s Anti-Vax Past Comes Back To Haunt Her

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Democratic New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s support for the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism in children is now coming back to haunt her in a brutal primary campaign.

Maloney in 2012 compared vaccines to cigarettes and suggested it was “common sense” that vaccines are harmful.

“You’ve got to just listen, you know, to — I remember smoking. I was on the City Council. I sat through so many hearings where they vowed smoking was not bad for your health. It’s common sense that it was bad for your health,” the congresswoman said at a hearing.

“The same thing seems to be here with the vaccinations. There’s too much verbal evidence coming from parents where they break down [and say], ‘I had a normal child, I gave him a vaccination, and then they came down with autism.”

Maloney during the hearing claimed she’s “for vaccines” before then blaming vaccines for autism in children.

“I’m totally for it. But why do you have to cram nine, six at one time when the verbal evidence seems so strong from so many people that they  had a healthy child until they got vaccinated?” she asked.

Maloney’s primary opponent, Suraj Patel, has turned the congresswoman’s attacks on vaccines into a campaign issue. (RELATED: Democrats Face Left-Wing Backlash For Choosing Primary Winners Ahead Of Time)

Patel’s campaign distributed mailers accusing Maloney of leading a “war on vaccines,” Politico reported.

Maloney’s campaign accused Patel of taking her words out of context, even though the congresswoman co-sponsored legislation in 2013 to “determine whether exposure to vaccines or vaccine components is associated with autism spectrum disorders, chronic conditions, or other neurological conditions,” Politico noted.

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