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Informed Consent Action Network

February 18, 2024

The Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) is one of the main anti-vaccination groups in the United States. Founded in 2016 by Del Bigtree, it spreads misinformation about the risks of vaccines and contributes to vaccine hesitancy,[1][2][3] which has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019.[4][5] Arguments against vaccination are contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.[6][7][8][9]

Informed Consent Action Network
AbbreviationICAN
Formation2016
FounderDel Bigtree
PurposeAnti-vaccination advocacy group
Location
Official language
English
CEO
Del Bigtree
Chief Operating Officer
Catharine Layton
Public Relations
James Scherrer
Budget (2019)
$3.46 million
Staff (2019)
5
Websiteicandecide.org

Funding and activities edit

ICAN was founded in 2016 by television producer Del Bigtree, after the release of the movie Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, which he wrote and produced, with anti-vaccination activist Andrew Wakefield directing. The national attention Bigtree gained with the movie and its promotion tour allowed the newly-formed group to quickly assume a leading role among the anti-vaccination movement.[1][10][11] Scientists have countered many of ICAN's statements, arguments against vaccination being contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.[12][13][14][15]

ICAN was established with a $100,000 grant from the Selz Foundation. Its budget ballooned to $1.4 million in 2017, with one million coming from the Selz Foundation, making ICAN the most well-funded anti-vaccination group in the United States that year.[16] In 2019, the Selz had stopped their funding, but ICAN received $2.46 million funneled through the donor-directed charitable trust investment firm T. Rowe Price, out of total revenue of $3.46 million.[17][18] ICAN reported making $5.5 million in revenue in 2020, a 60% increase from the previous year.[18] The group received a significant part of its funding in the early days of the pandemic from the charitable foundations from investment firm that anonymize donations: $235,000 from Fidelity Investments' foundation (2021-22), $600,000 from The Vanguard Group's foundation (2020 to 2022), $400,000 from Schwab Charitable (2020 to 2022), $135,000 from the Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust (2020 and 2021). It also received $15,000 from Donors Trust (2021).[19]

In 2019, ICAN paid a salary of $232,000 to Del Bigtree as its CEO, $162,000 to its Executive Producer Jenn Sherry Parry, $138,000 to its Chief Administrative Officer Catharine Layton, and 111,000 to Patrick Layton as Creative Director.[1][20] An article in Rolling Stone states that Layton stumbled upon the anti-vaccine movement on social media after her two sons were diagnosed with autism.[3]: 1 

Despite spreading misinformation about vaccines, the group received a federal loan of $165,600 through the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020.[21][22] It also holds Facebook fundraisers, this contributing $23,000 to its bottom line in 2021.[18] Like other anti-vaccination groups, ICAN directs their Instagram followers to a fundraising tool.[23]

Much of the group's funding in spent on legal fees, with a total of $13.8 million being paid to law firm Siri & Glimstad.[24]

In 2019, Bigtree was a keynote speaker at several anti-vaccination events targeting the ultra-Orthodox Jewish in Brooklyn and in Rockland County.[1][25] He has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum for wearing a Star of David at an anti-vaccination event, attempting to compare the treatment of those opposed to vaccination with the persecution of the Jewish people.[26][27][28][29] Bigtree's anti-vaccine advocacy has been described by anti-vaccination movement critic physician David Gorski as "fear mongering based on misinformation".[30]

In 2020, Facebook and Youtube removed Del Bigtree's anti-vaccination show The Highwire from their social media platforms, as part of efforts to limit the spread of disinformation about COVID-19. ICAN sued them for that, alleging the audience of the videos have decreased by half since they had to relocate it on their own website, although it continued streaming on Twitter. ICAN lost the court case in early 2022.[18][17]

Experts observing the anti-vaccination movement believe ICAN is crafting its communications in order to appeal to the segment of the population that distrusts expertise and government. Bigtree regularly appears in events that cater to those ideologies, including an event in October, 2020, at Trump National Doral Miami, a Florida resort owned by Donald Trump, where several leading figures of the QAnon movement also spoke.[31]

Access to information lawsuits edit

ICAN spends a large part of its budget on legal fees, paid to Siri & Glimstad. The law firm has made a specialty out of challenging vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]

In 2018, ICAN filed Freedom of information lawsuits to force the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to release administrative reports on childhood vaccine injury HHS is required to file with Congress. HHS replied that they could not find any such reports.[1]: 1 [32]: 1  While ICAN claimed the absence of these reports means that the federal government has neglected to properly study the effect of vaccines,[32]: 1  scientists and the fact-checking site PolitiFact pointed out a large number of in-depth studies were undertaken and their results shared with the public, even though HHS failed to file the required reports.[32]: 1 

Dorit Reiss, a Professor of Law at the University of California, explained, "ICAN uses FOIA requests as a query, asking questions that likely do not have government records." She added, "when the government, predictably, says they do not have such records (because many of CDC's statements on scientific matters are based, for example, on scientific literature rather than government records), ICAN misrepresents that as showing there is no evidence - where all the answer shows is that there is no specific record."[33]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e Sun, Lena H. (June 19, 2019). "Meet the New York couple donating millions to the anti-vaccine movement". The Washington Post. from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  2. ^ Karlin, Sam (May 7, 2019). "Bill backed by vaccine critics shot down; opponent called bill 'confusing and unnecessary'". The Advocate. from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Dickson, EJ (March 28, 2019). "Will the Internet's War on Anti-Vaxxers Work?". Rolling Stone. from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  4. ^ . Who.int. Archived from the original on January 16, 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  5. ^ PM, Aristos Georgiou (2019-01-15). "The anti-vax movement has been listed by WHO as one of its top 10 health threats for 2019". Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  6. ^ "Communicating science-based messages on vaccines". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 95 (10): 670–71. October 2017. doi:10.2471/BLT.17.021017. PMC 5689193. PMID 29147039.
  7. ^ "Why do some people oppose vaccination?". Vox. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  8. ^ Ceccarelli L. "Defending science: How the art of rhetoric can help". The Conversation. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  9. ^ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Vaccines.gov". Vaccines.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
  10. ^ Weeks, Carly (February 7, 2019). "Toronto health conference cancels appearance by anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree". The Globe and Mail. from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  11. ^ Merlan, Maria (June 20, 2019). "Everything I Learned While Getting Kicked out of America's Biggest Anti-Vaccine Conference". Jezebel. from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  12. ^ "Communicating science-based messages on vaccines". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 95 (10): 670–71. October 2017. doi:10.2471/BLT.17.021017. PMC 5689193. PMID 29147039.
  13. ^ "Why do some people oppose vaccination?". Vox. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  14. ^ Ceccarelli L. "Defending science: How the art of rhetoric can help". The Conversation. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  15. ^ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Vaccines.gov". Vaccines.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
  16. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy; Nadi, Aliza (2019-09-24). "How anti-vaxxers target grieving moms and turn them into crusaders". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  17. ^ a b "Pandemic Profiteers" (PDF). Center for Countering Digital Hate. Center for Countering Digital Hate. June 1, 2021. (PDF) from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  18. ^ a b c d e Zadrozny, Brandy (3 February 2022). . NBC News. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  19. ^ Bragman, Walker; Kotch, Alex (19 October 2023). "America's Biggest Charities Bankrolled RFK Jr.'s Anti-Vax Outfit". Rolling Stone. from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  20. ^ "Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". Pro Publica. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  21. ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth; Gregg, Aaron (18 January 2021). "The Trump administration bailed out prominent anti-vaccine groups during a pandemic". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  22. ^ "FederalPay.org PPP Loan Data — Informed Consent Action Network DBA Ican, Dripping Springs, TX". FederalPay.org. from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  23. ^ Silva, Spencer; Carter, Cadmen (12 September 2022). "Anti-vaccine accounts on Instagram are using the link-in-bio loophole to monetize their content and sidestep moderation". Media Matters for America. from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  24. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy (16 December 2023). "How a well-timed legal assault unraveled Mississippi's stellar record in vaccinating kids". NBC News. from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  25. ^ Mole, Beth (June 6, 2019). "Measles cases hit 1,001 as anti-vaxxers hold another rally of disinformation". Ars technica. from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  26. ^ "Anti-vaccine activists are using a Holocaust-era yellow Star of David to promote their cause". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. April 5, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  27. ^ Mills Rodrigo, Chris (April 8, 2019). "ADL criticizes 'anti-vaxxers' for adopting Star of David badge". The Hill. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  28. ^ Dolsten, Josefin (April 6, 2019). "US anti-vaxxers use Holocaust-era yellow stars to promote their agenda". The Times of Israel. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  29. ^ Sun, Lena H. (April 1, 2019). "US measles cases surge to second-highest level in nearly two decades". Denton Record-Chronicle. from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  30. ^ Gorski, David (May 6, 2019). "Deception by omission: Del Bigtree's ICAN calls the studies licensing MMR into question". Science-based Medicine. from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  31. ^ Porter, Tom (24 August 2021). "How a New York billionaire-funded anti-vax group is contributing to the vaccine hesitancy that's crippling the US recovery". Business Insider. from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  32. ^ a b c O'Rourke, Ciara (April 10, 2019). "No, Health and Human Services didn't say it failed to monitor vaccine safety". Politifact. from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  33. ^ Sethi, Pallavi; Roy, Shreyashi; Smith, Alexander (May 31, 2023). "The predictable polemic of 'Plandemic'". Logically. Retrieved 2023-06-01.

See also edit

February 18, 2024
informed, consent, action, network, ican, main, anti, vaccination, groups, united, states, founded, 2016, bigtree, spreads, misinformation, about, risks, vaccines, contributes, vaccine, hesitancy, which, been, identified, world, health, organization, global, h. The Informed Consent Action Network ICAN is one of the main anti vaccination groups in the United States Founded in 2016 by Del Bigtree it spreads misinformation about the risks of vaccines and contributes to vaccine hesitancy 1 2 3 which has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019 4 5 Arguments against vaccination are contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines 6 7 8 9 Informed Consent Action NetworkAbbreviationICANFormation2016FounderDel BigtreePurposeAnti vaccination advocacy groupLocationAustin TexasOfficial languageEnglishCEODel BigtreeChief Operating OfficerCatharine LaytonPublic RelationsJames ScherrerBudget 2019 3 46 millionStaff 2019 5Websiteicandecide wbr org Contents 1 Funding and activities 2 Access to information lawsuits 3 References 4 See alsoFunding and activities editICAN was founded in 2016 by television producer Del Bigtree after the release of the movie Vaxxed From Cover Up to Catastrophe which he wrote and produced with anti vaccination activist Andrew Wakefield directing The national attention Bigtree gained with the movie and its promotion tour allowed the newly formed group to quickly assume a leading role among the anti vaccination movement 1 10 11 Scientists have countered many of ICAN s statements arguments against vaccination being contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and efficacy of vaccines 12 13 14 15 ICAN was established with a 100 000 grant from the Selz Foundation Its budget ballooned to 1 4 million in 2017 with one million coming from the Selz Foundation making ICAN the most well funded anti vaccination group in the United States that year 16 In 2019 the Selz had stopped their funding but ICAN received 2 46 million funneled through the donor directed charitable trust investment firm T Rowe Price out of total revenue of 3 46 million 17 18 ICAN reported making 5 5 million in revenue in 2020 a 60 increase from the previous year 18 The group received a significant part of its funding in the early days of the pandemic from the charitable foundations from investment firm that anonymize donations 235 000 from Fidelity Investments foundation 2021 22 600 000 from The Vanguard Group s foundation 2020 to 2022 400 000 from Schwab Charitable 2020 to 2022 135 000 from the Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust 2020 and 2021 It also received 15 000 from Donors Trust 2021 19 In 2019 ICAN paid a salary of 232 000 to Del Bigtree as its CEO 162 000 to its Executive Producer Jenn Sherry Parry 138 000 to its Chief Administrative Officer Catharine Layton and 111 000 to Patrick Layton as Creative Director 1 20 An article in Rolling Stone states that Layton stumbled upon the anti vaccine movement on social media after her two sons were diagnosed with autism 3 1 Despite spreading misinformation about vaccines the group received a federal loan of 165 600 through the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020 21 22 It also holds Facebook fundraisers this contributing 23 000 to its bottom line in 2021 18 Like other anti vaccination groups ICAN directs their Instagram followers to a fundraising tool 23 Much of the group s funding in spent on legal fees with a total of 13 8 million being paid to law firm Siri amp Glimstad 24 In 2019 Bigtree was a keynote speaker at several anti vaccination events targeting the ultra Orthodox Jewish in Brooklyn and in Rockland County 1 25 He has been criticized by the Anti Defamation League and the Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum for wearing a Star of David at an anti vaccination event attempting to compare the treatment of those opposed to vaccination with the persecution of the Jewish people 26 27 28 29 Bigtree s anti vaccine advocacy has been described by anti vaccination movement critic physician David Gorski as fear mongering based on misinformation 30 In 2020 Facebook and Youtube removed Del Bigtree s anti vaccination show The Highwire from their social media platforms as part of efforts to limit the spread of disinformation about COVID 19 ICAN sued them for that alleging the audience of the videos have decreased by half since they had to relocate it on their own website although it continued streaming on Twitter ICAN lost the court case in early 2022 18 17 Experts observing the anti vaccination movement believe ICAN is crafting its communications in order to appeal to the segment of the population that distrusts expertise and government Bigtree regularly appears in events that cater to those ideologies including an event in October 2020 at Trump National Doral Miami a Florida resort owned by Donald Trump where several leading figures of the QAnon movement also spoke 31 Access to information lawsuits editICAN spends a large part of its budget on legal fees paid to Siri amp Glimstad The law firm has made a specialty out of challenging vaccine mandates during the COVID 19 pandemic 18 In 2018 ICAN filed Freedom of information lawsuits to force the Food and Drug Administration the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services HHS to release administrative reports on childhood vaccine injury HHS is required to file with Congress HHS replied that they could not find any such reports 1 1 32 1 While ICAN claimed the absence of these reports means that the federal government has neglected to properly study the effect of vaccines 32 1 scientists and the fact checking site PolitiFact pointed out a large number of in depth studies were undertaken and their results shared with the public even though HHS failed to file the required reports 32 1 Dorit Reiss a Professor of Law at the University of California explained ICAN uses FOIA requests as a query asking questions that likely do not have government records She added when the government predictably says they do not have such records because many of CDC s statements on scientific matters are based for example on scientific literature rather than government records ICAN misrepresents that as showing there is no evidence where all the answer shows is that there is no specific record 33 References edit a b c d e Sun Lena H June 19 2019 Meet the New York couple donating millions to the anti vaccine movement The Washington Post Archived from the original on June 29 2019 Retrieved June 28 2019 Karlin Sam May 7 2019 Bill backed by vaccine critics shot down opponent called bill confusing and unnecessary The Advocate Archived from the original on June 29 2019 Retrieved June 28 2019 a b Dickson EJ March 28 2019 Will the Internet s War on Anti Vaxxers Work Rolling Stone Archived from the original on June 29 2019 Retrieved June 28 2019 Ten health issues WHO will tackle this year Who int Archived from the original on January 16 2019 Retrieved 2019 01 19 PM Aristos Georgiou 2019 01 15 The anti vax movement has been listed by WHO as one of its top 10 health threats for 2019 Retrieved 2019 01 16 Communicating science based messages on vaccines Bulletin of the World Health Organization 95 10 670 71 October 2017 doi 10 2471 BLT 17 021017 PMC 5689193 PMID 29147039 Why do some people oppose vaccination Vox Retrieved 2018 11 26 Ceccarelli L Defending science How the art of rhetoric can help The Conversation Retrieved 2018 11 26 U S Department of Health and Human Services Vaccines gov Vaccines gov Retrieved 2018 08 05 Weeks Carly February 7 2019 Toronto health conference cancels appearance by anti vaccine activist Del Bigtree The Globe and Mail Archived from the original on June 21 2019 Retrieved June 21 2019 Merlan Maria June 20 2019 Everything I Learned While Getting Kicked out of America s Biggest Anti Vaccine Conference Jezebel Archived from the original on June 21 2019 Retrieved June 21 2019 Communicating science based messages on vaccines Bulletin of the World Health Organization 95 10 670 71 October 2017 doi 10 2471 BLT 17 021017 PMC 5689193 PMID 29147039 Why do some people oppose vaccination Vox Retrieved 2018 11 26 Ceccarelli L Defending science How the art of rhetoric can help The Conversation Retrieved 2018 11 26 U S Department of Health and Human Services Vaccines gov Vaccines gov Retrieved 2018 08 05 Zadrozny Brandy Nadi Aliza 2019 09 24 How anti vaxxers target grieving moms and turn them into crusaders NBC News Retrieved 2019 09 24 a b Pandemic Profiteers PDF Center for Countering Digital Hate Center for Countering Digital Hate June 1 2021 Archived PDF from the original on 2 June 2021 Retrieved 3 June 2021 a b c d e Zadrozny Brandy 3 February 2022 Once struggling anti vaccination groups have enjoyed a pandemic windfall NBC News Archived from the original on 4 February 2022 Retrieved 4 February 2022 Bragman Walker Kotch Alex 19 October 2023 America s Biggest Charities Bankrolled RFK Jr s Anti Vax Outfit Rolling Stone Archived from the original on 19 October 2023 Retrieved 19 October 2023 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax Pro Publica Retrieved 4 January 2021 Dwoskin Elizabeth Gregg Aaron 18 January 2021 The Trump administration bailed out prominent anti vaccine groups during a pandemic The Washington Post Retrieved 18 January 2021 FederalPay org PPP Loan Data Informed Consent Action Network DBA Ican Dripping Springs TX FederalPay org Archived from the original on 19 January 2021 Retrieved 18 January 2021 Silva Spencer Carter Cadmen 12 September 2022 Anti vaccine accounts on Instagram are using the link in bio loophole to monetize their content and sidestep moderation Media Matters for America Archived from the original on 17 September 2022 Retrieved 5 October 2022 Zadrozny Brandy 16 December 2023 How a well timed legal assault unraveled Mississippi s stellar record in vaccinating kids NBC News Archived from the original on 26 December 2023 Retrieved 26 December 2023 Mole Beth June 6 2019 Measles cases hit 1 001 as anti vaxxers hold another rally of disinformation Ars technica Archived from the original on June 21 2019 Retrieved June 21 2019 Anti vaccine activists are using a Holocaust era yellow Star of David to promote their cause Jewish Telegraphic Agency April 5 2019 Retrieved June 28 2019 Mills Rodrigo Chris April 8 2019 ADL criticizes anti vaxxers for adopting Star of David badge The Hill Retrieved June 28 2019 Dolsten Josefin April 6 2019 US anti vaxxers use Holocaust era yellow stars to promote their agenda The Times of Israel Retrieved June 28 2019 Sun Lena H April 1 2019 US measles cases surge to second highest level in nearly two decades Denton Record Chronicle Archived from the original on June 29 2019 Retrieved June 28 2019 Gorski David May 6 2019 Deception by omission Del Bigtree s ICAN calls the studies licensing MMR into question Science based Medicine Archived from the original on June 21 2019 Retrieved June 21 2019 Porter Tom 24 August 2021 How a New York billionaire funded anti vax group is contributing to the vaccine hesitancy that s crippling the US recovery Business Insider Archived from the original on 23 February 2022 Retrieved 13 July 2022 a b c O Rourke Ciara April 10 2019 No Health and Human Services didn t say it failed to monitor vaccine safety Politifact Archived from the original on June 29 2019 Retrieved June 29 2019 Sethi Pallavi Roy Shreyashi Smith Alexander May 31 2023 The predictable polemic of Plandemic Logically Retrieved 2023 06 01 See also editHerd immunity Science Moms Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Informed Consent Action Network amp oldid 1191991607, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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