In the latest instance in a series of verbal gaffes, Michele Bachmann recently claimed that the HPV vaccine Gardasil might cause mental retardation. She cited an anecdote told to her by a woman who claimed her daughter had suffered mental retardation after receiving the vaccination.

I grew up knowing all the facts about STDs. Before they became STIs, the most common STDs identified by my high school and middle school counselors were gonorrhea, chlamydia and genital herpes.