Temple Grandin to keynote pro cure conference

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Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2000 by Lisa Ackerman and based in Irvine, California.

TACA is frequently at odds with the scientific consensus about autism causes and treatments, with various spokespeople for the group having publicly indicated support for Andrew Wakefield, author of a fraudulent research paper linking vaccines and autism, or advocating against mandatory vaccination.

Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2000 by Lisa Ackerman and based in Irvine, California.

TACA is frequently at odds with the scientific consensus about autism causes and treatments, with various spokespeople for the group having publicly indicated support for Andrew Wakefield, author of a fraudulent research paper linking vaccines and autism, or advocating against mandatory vaccination.

Based on 2014 tax returns, researcher Briana Brukilacchio calculated that TACA spends 55% of its funds on salaries, 40% on programming and distributes 3% of its funding.

Lisa Ackerman used to attribute autism to a wide range of causes, urging parents to get rid of flame-retardant clothing or mattresses and new carpeting. She advocated for vitamin shots and hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments.

In June 2007, Lisa Ackerman stepped down as TACA spokesperson, and was succeeded by anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy.

CATA was one of the sponsor groups of the Green our Vaccines march in Washington D.C on June 4, 2008, along with Generation Rescue. McCarthy and then-boyfriend Jim Carrey were prominently featured at the rally, along with several speakers making specific links between vaccines and autism. Promoting the march, McCarthy said that "In 1983 the shot schedule was 10. That's when autism was 1 in 10,000. Now there's 36, and autism is one in 150. All arrows point to one direction."

The relationship between TACA and McCarthy ended in October 2008, when McCarthy became the spokesperson for Generation Rescue.

In 2010, when medical journal The Lancet issued a full retraction of Andrew Wakefield's research paper linking vaccines and autism, Rebecca Estepp, speaking for TACA, insisted she still trusted Wakefield's research.

In 2015, CATA's co-coordinator of its Maryland chapter indicated that even though they question vaccines, her group was not a follower of Jenny McCarthy.

The keynote speaker at the TACA 2017 Conference was Erin Brockovich, who advocates against mandatory vaccination. Other speakers at the conference included Bob Sears, a member of TACA's Physician Advisory Board who is "fighting against mandatory vaccine legislation".