The International Chiropractors Association (ICA) was founded by B.J. Palmer in 1926 in Davenport, Iowa, US. Palmer served as it President until his death in 1961.[2]
The ICA, along with the American Chiropractic Association, is listed as a national chiropractic association representing the United States at the World Federation of Chiropractic,[3] with representation on the executive council.[4] It has individual members all over the world who pay dues, and in that sense they remain "international".[5] Today, its membership is estimated at one fifth that of the only other major national chiropractic association, the American Chiropractic Association.[6][7] Memberships can be estimated by the dues paid to the World Federation of Chiropractic, which publishes the total amount it receives from its member associations.
The ICA supports the efforts of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC).[13] The NVIC is known for promoting false and misleading information about vaccines, in particular the discredited claim that vaccines cause autism.
The ICA's annual conferences have featured anti-vaccination propaganda. In 2018 Guest Speaker Beau Pierce (Pierce co-produced a series entitled Vaccines Revealed) hosted a session entitled Vaccines Revealed.,[14] and Jeff Hays, known for producing the anti-Vaccine propaganda Vaccines Revealed, was invited to host a session the 2017 ICA Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics Annual Conference. In 2016 the widely discredited anti-vaccination propaganda film VAXXED was shown at a conference sponsored by the ICA's Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics.[15]
In the mid-1980s there was a major campaign for ACA members to join the ICA. The rationale was to both free up the name, "International" Chiropractors Association, so that a new organization could be formed to represent the profession at the World level, and to have for the first time, one united voice for the profession in the United States. The attempt failed and the profession reached a consensus in London, in 1987, to create the World Federation of Chiropractic.[16]
