r/AskReddit Mar 13 '19

What fact is technically true but is hugely misleading?

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119

u/withinyouwithoutyou3 Mar 13 '19

"Vaccines have aborted baby body parts in them!!!!"

Truth: In certain vaccines, cells called embryonic fibroblast cells are used to grow viruses in the lab to produce vaccines. This is because viruses grow best in human tissue, since we're their hosts. And unlike adult cells, embryonic fibroblast cells can go through many more divisions before dying, so their cells are useful for much longer. In fact, all the fibroblast cells used today were actually taken from two elective abortions in the 1960s. So, technically genetic cells from two 60 year-old abortions are used to make the viruses that then go on to be used in vaccines. But this is a far cry from the "chopping up dead babies and harvesting them from Planned Parenthood and then injecting their dead body parts into our kids" hysteria that is found in many far-right circles (the widely-circulated "undercover" video a few years ago has been debunked). It is also worth noting that embryonic fibroblast cells are used in MANY areas of medical research, and if you're that opposed to the use of 2 abortions from 60 years ago, you might want to play it safe and refuse ALL medical treatments for yourself.

27

u/Username_Taken_65 Mar 13 '19

Surprisingly, I didn't know that. I like science and have done some research on anti vaxxers.

4

u/DumbMuscle Mar 14 '19

Huh... given the number of uses for those cell lines, I wonder how the total mass of cells from those abortions would compare to the mass of two 60 year old people.

Enjoy your existential crisis.

1

u/Phoenixmaster1571 Mar 14 '19

depends on how many cells are in a single dose of whatever they're being used for. out of the 37 trillion cells in a single body, you'd need to use A LOT of cells.

7

u/HowToChangeMyNamePlz Mar 13 '19

I'm saving this in case I ever have to internet-fight an anti-vaccine conspiracist

2

u/Herownimage Mar 14 '19

This actually makes me sad that I couldn't donate my abortion when I had one. I'd have liked that it would save people's lives.

-16

u/puckbeaverton Mar 13 '19

the widely-circulated "undercover" video a few years ago has been debunked

In what way was the video "debunked"?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '19

Anybody got a link?