Sherri Tenpenny

Comment and Opinion

Dr Tenpenny is actually an osteopath, but people keep telling me that this is the same as a real doctor. She makes a living telling lies about vaccines. Fighting off some stiff competition she won Quote Of The Year in the prestigious 2012 Millenium Awards. This is what the citation said:

Mass murder always brings out the craziness in people looking to use it to further some insane agenda, so picking one example out from the rest can be quite difficult. I have chosen a statement by "Dr" Sherri Tenpenny, one of the most respected and quoted of the professional anti-vaccination liars. Here she is on Facebook, suggesting that a fictitious number of vaccines causes mental illness and therefore is the true reason that someone should take up his mother's semi-automatic rifle, kill the mother and then proceed to go to a school and murder kindergarten children. I'm not sure why she should be concerned at someone killing children, because increasing the number of dead children is her life's work, but perhaps she thinks it would be preferable to kill them in greater numbers and less publicity with a measles or pertussis epidemic. The words that win the award are in the first two paragraphs:

I'd like to take it one step backward: How much "mental illness" in children starts from the 66 vaccine antigens and doses chemicals injected into developing brain by 6 months of age? Or the cumulative effects of 110 antigens by 5yr of age..Or by 12 years, the sum of 153 antigens (and measurable amounts of more than 63 different chemicals).

There is nothing "hysterical" about that statement -- simply the facts about what comes through those needles.

"Dr" Tenpenny has been informed of her success.

Dear Ms Tenpenny

Congratulations on winning Quote Of The Year in the 2012 Millenium Awards. You had some very tough competition but your attempt to link the killings in the Sandy Hook Elementary School to vaccinations finally beat out the rest. I appreciate that you might be ambivalent about the shooting. Because you devote your life to increasing the number of dead and disabled children I'm sure you felt a twinge of admiration for the gunman while simultaneously thinking that far more dead children can be caused by a measles or pertussis epidemic than can ever be achieved by a single lunatic machine-gunning a room full of toddlers.

The award citation read:

[see above]

Please feel free to publicise your award and display the award logo on your web site. If you wish to collect the physical prize (a tube of haemorrhoid cream and a wire brush applicator) you can do so at your own expense, but please give me sufficient notice so that I can organise the location for the public application of the cream and the accompanying media coverage.

You can see the other winners at https://ratbags.com/rsoles/history/2012/2012awards.htm.

I have my own quotes for "Dr" Tenpenny:

I've upset someone. Good. (5/1/2013)
Anti-vaccination liar "Dr" Sherri Tenpenny seems to have a streak of cowardice in her. She was the winner of Quote of the Year in the 2012 Millenium Awards, so I posted this Kind and Gentle notification to her Facebook page so that her 30,000+ followers could see that she was receiving the recognition she deserved.

Thirty minutes later it had been removed and I was blocked from commenting on the page. (The reason it says "about an hour ago" is that the screen shot was taken by a friend of mine who had not closed or gone away from the browser window.)

Then things got better. Various people kept posting copies of it or links to the awards page here until "Dr" Tenpenny finally could stand no more. Both her Facebook pages were closed (or made invisible to unapproved people). Gone. No presence on Facebook at all. More than 30,000 loyal fans dumped. All because someone said something she didn't like.

Or was it? Maybe Tenpenny took the pages down because they were not achieving the desired results. Simultaneously with all this it was announced that 2012 had been the worst year for whooping cough in the US since 1955. While this would normally be expected to have anti-vaccination liars wetting their pants with glee, the problem was that while infections were up, only 15 children under the age of twelve months died. This is fewer than what one lunatic let loose in a kindergarten with a gun can do so it probably didn't meet the Key Performance Indicators set at the Tenpenny organisation. Making money by lying about vaccination is one thing, but actual physical results on the ground are the real measure of success.

Massive liefest coming Down Under (3/1/2015)
A mysterious organisation calling itself The GanKinMan Foundation has announced that is organising a tour of Australia by well-known anti-vaccination liar "Dr" Sherri Tenpenny, winner of Quote of the Year in the 2012 Millenium Awards for her suggestion that the murder of schoolchildren in the Sandy Hook Elementary School could possibly be attributed to the vaccines which the murderer had received as a child. Tenpenny is also renowned for suggesting that SIDS and Shaken Baby Syndrome are both caused by vaccines and that the HPV vaccine is deliberately designed to kill women. For reasons that could produce several PhDs in both psychiatry and psychology, a large number of people seem to think that "Dr" Tenpenny actually has something worthwhile to say and should be allowed to roam the streets talking to people instead of being held in a secure room with padded walls.

An examination of business name records in Australia does not turn up any foundation with this particular business name, even disregarding the fact that the word "Foundation" cannot be used in a business name except in special circumstances. A bit deeper examination revealed that is a fictional invention of Stephanie Mesenger, the writer of the book Melanie's Marvellous Measles and co-author with Meryl Dorey of a book called Vaccine Roulette, one of the most comprehensive collections of anti-vaccination lies that it has ever been my displeasure to see.

On Messenger's website it says that payment for the seminars and the other products that she sells can be made by direct deposit into what is effectively a personal bank account, not the bank account of a business. One of her businesses is a registered charity which has been granted tax deductibility for donations by the Australian Taxation Office, so it is possible that she is funnelling money from a commercial venture through a corporate structure that is exempt from income tax, but I am not going to suggest that she is actually doing this because that could possibly be defamatory. I'll leave it up to friends of mine with with expertise and qualifications in both accountancy and taxation law to investigate these matters further.

The name "GanKinMan" is derived from the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and Nelson Mandela. I have sent the following email to groups which exist to preserve the reputations and memories of these famous people.

It may have already been brought to your attention but an organisation calling itself the "GanKinMan Foundation" is using the name and reputation of XXXX to promote a tour of Australia by someone (Sherri Tenpenny) who is opposed to vaccination. This opposition extends to telling outright lies about vaccines, declaring that they are not just unnecessary but dangerous. Another speaker on the tour, Isaac Golden, was recently rejected as an expert witness by the Federal Court of Australia when he tried to promote the absurdity of homeopathic "vaccination".

There is no business registration for the GanKinMan Foundation in Australia (the word "Foundation" cannot be registered as part of a business name) and the organisation appears to be the work of a single person, Stephanie Messenger, who has written a book suggesting that children be deliberately exposed to measles and coauthored another book containing some of the most egregious lies ever told about vaccines. Her involvement is well hidden, but a little detective work turned up some telling coincidences.

I urge you to take action to counteract this abuse of the reputation of a great man.

The GanKinMan web site is at http://gankinman.com. I have had a bit to say about Sherri Tenpenny at https://ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/tenpenny.htm

As well as the discredited Dr Golden, one of the other speakers mentioned has been Norma Erickson from the incorrectly named SaneVax (they forgot the prefix "In"), although her name seems to have disappeared completely from a revised website about the events (it's still there on the external site managing the bookings). There are two series of events, one named "Birth, Baby and Beyond Seminar" and the other called "Raising Healthy Children Naturally Seminar".

There has been an extraordinary amount of media attention given to these seminars, much of it resulting from actions of my friends in the Stop the AVN loose Facebook coalition. Everyone seems to be appearing everywhere on radio, television and in the press and so far, with one almost insignificant exception, no commentary has been sought from any of the regular anti-vaccination spokespeople. Maybe at last the media is grasping the concept of false balance. There is nothing that can be said in favour of Tenpenny's tour of lying. Moves have been made to attempt to get the Australian government to cancel Tenpenny's visa for Australia, but if she is coming here on a working rather than tourist visa there is probably little that can be done. There is a precedent for cancelling the visa of a visiting speech maker, but that was someone who was already in the country and was giving lectures which essentially suggested that rape and violence are legitimate means of seduction. While Tenpenny's views may be odious they probably aren't quite as offensive as that to the majority of people. Unfortunately.

I have asked for free media passes to the Sydney seminars. This just shows that I'm the sort of optimist who when he sees a glass half full of water says "It's not just half full, it's getting fuller and will soon overflow". I really would like to go to one of these so I'm going to have an appeal to raise the money to pay for my ticket into one of them. The price of a VIP ticket (which includes having my photograph taken with "Dr" Tenpenny!) is $100 so I'm going to ask for donations. If I don't raise the full $100 or I do and they won't sell me a ticket I'll donate the whole lot to the Children's Hospital at Westmead, and if I raise more than $100 the excess will go to the same place.

Please help get me to a seminar.
I don't think free tickets will be forthcoming.

Update (6/1/2015)

"Dr" Tenpenny tour implodes (24/1/2015)
Three weeks ago I mentioned that there were plans for anti-vaccination liar "Dr" Sherri Tenpenny to tour Australia, telling the normal lies about the non-existent dangers of vaccines. A concerted effort by sensible people resulted in a media blitz, with around 50 stories about the tour appearing on television, radio and in the press. There was universal condemnation of the idea that a foreigner could come here and tell people how to put our children in danger. Venues were contacted, and was found that the bookings had been made deceptively and the venues were under the impression that they were going to host a benefit for a Sudden Infant Death Syndrome charity, not a straight out anti-vaccination liefest. Finally the good news came – all venues had cancelled the bookings.

This fantastic result was announced on a television program which was unique among all those that had commented on the tour – it had "Dr" Tenpenny on all by herself with no pretence at balance. Had there been someone sane in the studio or had the interviewer been smart enough to challenge a defamatory statement, "Dr" Tenpenny might not have got away with accusing people of being terrorists.

However:

The mysterious GanKinMan Foundation which had been promoting the tour fell strangely silent except for a hint that the talks might still go ahead. Stephanie Mesenger, who was organising all of this, has in the past only issued the location of talks by text message shortly before events were to take place, so it is certainly possible that she will be doing the same thing again. As there has been no official announcement from the organisers that the tour has been cancelled, nobody is quite sure how you get a refund if you have already bought tickets. Luckily I hadn't bought my ticket and I am waiting to see what happens in the future. Because of this uncertainty I'll continue my appeal for donations to pay for my $100 ticket, a price which includes having my photograph taken with "Dr" Tenpenny herself. Any money collected over the cost of the ticket (or the lot if the show doesn't go ahead or they won't sell me a ticket) will be donated to the Children's Hospital at Westmead. If I manage to get a photograph taken with "Dr" Tenpenny, autographed prints will be auctioned with the proceeds going to the same place.

Please help get me to a seminar.
I don't think free tickets will be forthcoming.

And you know how the anti-vaccinators have been screeching about denying "Dr" Tenpenny's freedom of speech? Here's one of the conditions that people had to accept if they wanted to buy tickets:

"No interjecting or calling out from the audience will be allowed. There will be a question time at the end of the day and only those with a microphone that the staff provide, will be allowed to ask questions. If speakers have time after each of their sessions, they may call for questions, and at that time a staff member will bring a microphone to people as time permits."

I don't think I will be allowed to ask any questions if I managed to get to one of the seminars.

Maybe it really is over (31/1/2015)
"Dr" Sherri Tenpenny issued a media release about the cancellation of her Australian tour. Unfortunately, many media outlets that had done a good job reporting on the leadup to the cancellation simply took the media release at face value and published it almost verbatim. We were able to get some of them to admit the error and change the lies about bomb threats – yes, threats were made, made by a supporter of "Dr" Tenpenny who threatened to bomb venues if they cancelled her bookings. I won't comment on it except to apply the usual yellow marker to, what should I call them?, oh, that's right, the lies.

Announcement: DR. SHERRI TENPENNY'S SPEAKING TOUR CANCELLED FOR REASONS OF SAFETY AND SECURITY

January 27, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

...

Brisbane, Australia: Ms. Stephanie Messenger and Dr. Sherri Tenpenny have jointly decided to cancel the speaking appearances scheduled for Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Gold Coast. The determination was made to protect the speakers, the public and the venue owners as pro-vaccine extremists have made continual, anonymous threats of vandalism and violence.

"We have reached a point where we can no longer guarantee the safety of those attending the seminar," said, Ms. Messenger. "Some people were planning to bring babies. The threats have been persistent. We are not able to insure that the attendees would be safe from harm."

The anti-free-speech terrorists have voiced bomb threats and have threatened violence against venue owners and their families in some cities originally scheduled for the healthy living seminars. Pro-vaccine extremists have been sabotaging the venues and have threatened to disrupt the normal business operations of the locations during the meetings. Derogatory and false messages have been written about venue locations on message boards, such as Hotels.com, bullying the location owners into cancelling the venues.

"It's difficult to grasp why pro-vaccine forces are so adamantly against these seminars. Not only have they prohibited freedom of speech, they have blocked the freedom to hear information that is not in line with a pro-vaccine message," said Dr. Tenpenny. "I was coming to speak as an invited guest. However, given the level of hostility that has transpired over the last three weeks, and for the sake of my own personal safety, I have also cancelled my planned vacation in Australia."

Dr. Tenpenny and Ms. Messenger send thanks to venue owners and gratitude to the many volunteers who helped during the planning. The support of the seminars in the name free speech is greatly appreciated.

Additional options are being considered but not confirmed at this time. A refund will be issued for all tickets sold.

Let's look at the evidence (31/10/2020)
I've had things to say in the past about the execrable anti-vaccination liar* "Dr" Sherri Tenpenny. This image sums it up.

* Yes, I know all anti-vaccination liars are execrable. I apologise for the tautology.

An old friend attracts attention (5/6/2021)
"Dr" Sherri Tenpenny, winner for Quote of the Year in the 2012 Millenium Awards and all-round disgusting thing has embarrassed herself* at a public hearing about COVID-19 vaccines by declaring that the vaccines make the recipients magnetic, evidence being that people who have received the vaccine can have spoons and keys stick to them afterwards. The spoon sticking thing is caused by sweat and skin oils and has been a staple trick of fathers at kids' birthday parties since Adam played fullback for the Eden rugby team. Keys are almost universally made of brass.

One thing that is common to both stainless steel and brass is that they are nonmagnetic, so it is highly unlikely that either of these metals would stick to a magnetic human, even if such a human existed. The alloy that makes stainless steel (of which all my spoons are made, although silver and gold aren't magnetic either) loses iron's magnetic qualities when it cools, and I don't think too many people have been putting red hot spoons on their noses. Keys are made of brass specifically so that they can't be magnetised because a magnetic key would severely reduce the security of locks. Add metallurgy, physics and skin secretions to the things that "Dr" Tenpenny is ignorant about, such as the safety of vaccines and the value of human life.

"Dr" Tenpenny lying like a champion.

* I'm drawing a very long bow in assuming that "Dr" Tenpenny could be embarrassed by this, or by anything really. My experience of professional anti-vaccination liars is that they have no shame even when caught out in the most outrageous lies.

But this makes me happy (3/7/2021)
The news is not all bad.

In fact it gives me great pleasure to announce that another avenue for "Dr" Sherri Tenpenny to spread lies and disinformation about vaccines has been closed to her. Any day on which something happens to make her miserable is a very good day indeed. The 99,000 people who paid attention to her drivelous ravings will have to look elsewhere to get their daily doses of dangerous lies.