Informed Consent Action Network
{{Short description|American anti-vaccination group}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Informed Consent Action Network
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| logo = Informed Consent Action Network logo 2022.svg
| logo_size = 250px
| logo_alt =
| logo_caption =
| map =
| map_size =
| map_alt =
| map_caption =
| map2 =
| map2_size =
| map2_alt =
| map2_caption =
| abbreviation = ICAN
| nickname =
| pronounce =
| pronounce ref =
| pronounce comment =
| pronounce 2 =
| named_after =
| motto =
| predecessor =
| merged =
| successor =
| formation = 2016
| founder = Del Bigtree
| founding_location =
| extinction =
| merger =
| type =
| tax_id =
| registration_id =
| status =
| purpose = Anti-vaccination advocacy group
| professional_title =
| headquarters =
| location = Austin, Texas
| location2 =
| additional_location =
| playstore_app =
| additional_location2=
| coordinates =
| origins =
| region =
| products =
| services =
| methods =
| fields =
| membership =
| membership_year =
| language = English
| owner =
| sec_gen =
| leader_title =
| leader_name =
| leader_title2 = CEO
| leader_name2 = Del Bigtree
| leader_title3 = Chief Operating Officer
| leader_name3 = Catharine Layton
| leader_title4 = Public Relations
| leader_name4 = James Scherrer
| board_of_directors =
| key_people =
| main_organ =
| parent_organization =
| subsidiaries =
| secessions =
| affiliations =
| funding =
| budget = $23 million
| budget_year = 2023
| revenue =
| revenue_year =
| disbursements =
| expenses =
| expenses_year =
| endowment =
| endowment_year =
| staff = 5
| staff_year = 2019
| volunteers =
| volunteers_year =
| students =
| students_year =
| website = {{URL|icandecide.org/}}
| remarks =
| formerly =
| footnotes =
| bodystyle =
}}
{{Alternative medical systems|conspiracy}}
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,{{R|selz}}{{R|adv}}{{R|rolling}} which has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019.{{R|v1}}{{R|v2}} Arguments against vaccination are contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.{{Cite journal |date=October 2017 |title=Communicating science-based messages on vaccines |journal=Bulletin of the World Health Organization |volume=95 |issue=10 |pages=670–71 |doi=10.2471/BLT.17.021017 |pmc=5689193 |pmid=29147039}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17588104/vaccine-opposition-anti-vaxxer |title=Why do some people oppose vaccination? |work=Vox |access-date=2018-11-26}}{{Cite news |url=http://theconversation.com/defending-science-how-the-art-of-rhetoric-can-help-68210 |title=Defending science: How the art of rhetoric can help |last=Ceccarelli |first=Leah |work=The Conversation |access-date=2018-11-26 |language=en |name-list-style=vanc}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.vaccines.gov/basics/safety/index.html |title=Vaccines.gov |last=U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |website=Vaccines.gov |language=en-us |access-date=2018-08-05}}
Funding and activities
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.{{R|selz}}{{R|CWeeks}}{{R|Jez}} Scientists have countered many of ICAN's statements, arguments against vaccination being contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.{{R|v3}}{{R|v4}}{{R|v5}}{{R|v6}}
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.{{R|NBC}} 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.{{Cite web|date=June 1, 2021|title=Pandemic Profiteers|url=https://252f2edd-1c8b-49f5-9bb2-cb57bb47e4ba.filesusr.com/ugd/f4d9b9_5311113400604e00b8ed2a4746021de8.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602180845/https://252f2edd-1c8b-49f5-9bb2-cb57bb47e4ba.filesusr.com/ugd/f4d9b9_5311113400604e00b8ed2a4746021de8.pdf|archive-date=2 June 2021|access-date=3 June 2021|website=Center for Countering Digital Hate|publisher=Center for Countering Digital Hate}} ICAN reported making $5.5 million in revenue in 2020, a 60% increase from the previous year. 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).{{Cite magazine |last1=Bragman |first1=Walker |last2=Kotch |first2=Alex |date=19 October 2023 |title=America's Biggest Charities Bankrolled RFK Jr.'s Anti-Vax Outfit |magazine=Rolling Stone |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/rfk-jr-anti-vax-orgs-funding-major-charities-1234857214/ |url-status=live |access-date=19 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019142158/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/rfk-jr-anti-vax-orgs-funding-major-charities-1234857214/ |archive-date=19 October 2023}} In 2022, ICAN received a total of $13.4 million in funding, then $23 million in 2023.{{Cite news |last=Weber |first=Lauren |date=21 February 2024 |title=Tax records reveal the lucrative world of covid misinformation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/02/21/covid-misinformation-earnings/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223013954/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/02/21/covid-misinformation-earnings/|archive-date=23 February 2024 |url-status=live |access-date=23 February 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post}}{{Cite news |last=Zadrozny |first=Brandy |date=23 December 2024 |title=Anti-vaccine group with ties to RFK Jr. saw another windfall last year, records show |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/anti-vaccine-group-ican-del-bigtree-rfk-jr-nearly-doubled-revenue-rcna185214 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241228025714/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/anti-vaccine-group-ican-del-bigtree-rfk-jr-nearly-doubled-revenue-rcna185214 |archive-date=28 December 2024 |access-date=30 December 2024 |work=NBC News}}
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.{{R|selz}}{{R|form990}} 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.{{R|rolling|p=1|q=Layton says her two sons received autism diagnoses after receiving the MMR and pneumonia booster vaccines, respectively; she stumbled on the anti-vaxx community on social media while doing research, and she says that one of her sons has since recovered. }} By 2022, Bigtree's compensation had increased to $284,000. In 2023, the CEO earned $234,000 while also working on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 2024 presidential campaign.
Despite spreading misinformation about vaccines, the group received a federal loan of $165,600 through the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020.{{Cite news|last1=Dwoskin|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Gregg|first2=Aaron|date=18 January 2021|title=The Trump administration bailed out prominent anti-vaccine groups during a pandemic|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/18/ppp-loans-anti-vaccine/|access-date=18 January 2021}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=FederalPay.org PPP Loan Data — Informed Consent Action Network DBA Ican, Dripping Springs, TX|url=https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program/informed-consent-action-network-dba-ican-dripping-springs-tx|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119010255/https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program/informed-consent-action-network-dba-ican-dripping-springs-tx|archive-date=19 January 2021|access-date=18 January 2021|website=FederalPay.org}} It also holds Facebook fundraisers, this contributing $23,000 to its bottom line in 2021. Like other anti-vaccination groups, ICAN directs their Instagram followers to a fundraising tool.{{Cite web |last1=Silva |first1=Spencer |last2=Carter |first2=Cadmen |date=12 September 2022 |title=Anti-vaccine accounts on Instagram are using the link-in-bio loophole to monetize their content and sidestep moderation |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/anti-vaccine-accounts-instagram-are-using-link-bio-loophole-monetize-their-content-and |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220917150142/https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/anti-vaccine-accounts-instagram-are-using-link-bio-loophole-monetize-their-content-and |archive-date=17 September 2022 |access-date=5 October 2022 |website=Media Matters for America}}
Much of the group's funding in spent on legal fees, with a total approaching $20 million being paid to law firm Siri & Glimstad.{{Cite news |last=Zadrozny |first=Brandy |date=16 December 2023 |title=How a well-timed legal assault unraveled Mississippi's stellar record in vaccinating kids |work=NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mississippi-anti-vaccine-religious-exemptions-school-public-health-rcna130004 |url-status=live |access-date=26 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231226114030/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/mississippi-anti-vaccine-religious-exemptions-school-public-health-rcna130004 |archive-date=26 December 2023}}
Given the impact they had during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ethicist Arthur Caplan commented that funding ICAN and similar groups might have grave consequence in future epidemics.
In 2019, Bigtree was a keynote speaker at several anti-vaccination events targeting the ultra-Orthodox Jewish in Brooklyn and in Rockland County.{{R|selz}}{{R|ArsT}} 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.{{R|jta}}{{R|th}}{{R|jos}}{{R|Denton}} Bigtree's anti-vaccine advocacy has been described by anti-vaccination movement critic physician David Gorski as "fear mongering based on misinformation".{{R|Gorski}}
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.{{R|profit}}
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.{{R|BI22}}
Access to information lawsuits
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.{{Cite news|last=Zadrozny|first=Brandy |author-link=Brandy Zadrozny|date=3 February 2022|title=Once struggling, anti-vaccination groups have enjoyed a pandemic windfall|work=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/struggling-anti-vaccination-groups-enjoyed-pandemic-windfall-rcna14402|access-date=4 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204013536/https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/struggling-anti-vaccination-groups-enjoyed-pandemic-windfall-rcna14402|archive-date=4 February 2022}}
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.{{R|selz | p=1 | q=In 2018, the organization filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuits against federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services. The suits sought to compel the release of data and documents related to vaccine safety. }}{{R|factcheck | p=1 | q=The claim, Reiss said, stems from a public information request filed by the Informed Consent Action Network seeking administrative reports that HHS had filed with Congress. Though the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act requires HHS to file such reports, HHS said they couldn't find any in a search.}} While ICAN claimed the absence of these reports means that the federal government has neglected to properly study the effect of vaccines,{{R|factcheck| p=1 | q=In a July 2018 post on its website, the Informed Consent Action Network says, "HHS has not acted in its duties regarding vaccine safety, forcing 78 million American children into a vaccine program with no safety provisions."}}
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.{{R|factcheck| p=1 | q=However, Reiss said, while HHS said they couldn’t find the reports the Informed Consent Action Network requested, "that is not to say they have not monitored safety. They have." She directed us to two blog posts she wrote about the case. In the first, she notes that the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 requires HHS to report to two congressional committees on its vaccine-related activities. On June 27, 2018, the agency responded to the request by saying that its search for records "did not locate any records responsive to your request." Reiss then details the "abundant research" on HHS and vaccine safety, including Institute of Medicine reports that the agency commissions. "In July 2014, a large report on vaccine safety commissioned by HHS was also completed." She concludes by saying that though HHS "has done and continued to do abundant work related to vaccines safety, the agency should have submitted the required reports." }}
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."{{Cite web |last1=Sethi |first1=Pallavi |last2=Roy |first2=Shreyashi |last3=Smith |first3=Alexander |date=May 31, 2023 |title=The predictable polemic of 'Plandemic' |url=https://www.logicallyfacts.com/en/article/plandemic-3-explained |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=Logically |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/anti-vaxxers-facebook-youtube-instagram-806504/|title=Will the Internet's War on Anti-Vaxxers Work?|last=Dickson|first=EJ|date=March 28, 2019|magazine=Rolling Stone|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629210451/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/anti-vaxxers-facebook-youtube-instagram-806504/|archive-date=June 29, 2019|url-status=live|access-date=June 28, 2019}}
}}