Generation Rescue
| Founded | May 13, 2005 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Lisa Handley, J.B. Handley |
| 20-2063267 | |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization |
| Headquarters | Sherman Oaks, California, United States |
| Jenny McCarthy | |
| J.B. Handley, Lisa Handley, Deidre Imus, Samir Patel, Rowena Salas, Donnie Wahlberg, Katie Wright | |
| Candace McDonald | |
|
Revenue (2013)
|
$1,160,252 |
| Expenses (2013) | $1,002,311 |
|
Employees (2013)
|
4 |
|
Volunteers (2013)
|
1,594 |
| Mission | Recovery for children with autism-spectrum disorders by providing guidance and support for medical treatment to directly improve the child's quality of life for all families in need. |
| Website | www |
Generation Rescue is a nonprofit organization that advocates the incorrect view that autism and related disorders are primarily caused by environmental factors, particularly vaccines. These claims are biologically implausible and are disproven by scientific evidence. The organization was established in 2005 by Lisa and J.B. Handley. They have gained attention through use of a media campaign, including full page ads in the New York Times and USA Today. Today, Generation Rescue is known as a platform for Jenny McCarthy's autism and anti-vaccine advocacy.
The organization was established in 2005 by Lisa and J.B. Handley and 150 volunteer "Rescue Angels" that included many members of the biomedical treatment movement at the time. Beginning in the spring of 2005 and running through January 2007, Generation Rescue began a national media campaign in the US, placing advertisements in such publications as USA Today. More recently it has been led by Jenny McCarthy, an author, television personality and former Playboy model. Since McCarthy has become president, the organization has been rebranded variously as "Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey's Autism Organization", "Jenny McCarthy's Generation Rescue" and "Jenny McCarthy's Autism Organization". Bonnie Rochman wrote in Time, "...McCarthy’s celebrity status has meant that her affiliation with Generation Rescue, an organization that links autism with immunization, has spooked thousands of parents, encouraging them to reject vaccines for their children — the same vaccines that are responsible for saving lives around the world."
Generation Rescue has proposed a number of possible causes for developmental-related issues, such as vaccines, the increase in the number of vaccines administered, and thiomersal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative. Generation Rescue claims that biomedical intervention can help children recover. The hypotheses that vaccines, such as MMR, or thiomersal cause autism have been refuted by scientific research, as have claims that diets, drugs or chelation can cure autism. Because of Generation Rescue's public profile through national advertising and because its point of view is not shared by the mainstream medical community, its message has been controversial, and the organization has been described as anti-vaccine.
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Wikipedia