Via the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

Help Stop the March of Dimes’ Animal Cruelty

Each year between March and June, hundreds of WalkAmerica events take place across the country to raise money for the March of Dimes. Unfortunately, most walkers are not aware that their money helps fund gruesome and ineffective animal experiments, and PCRM needs your help to inform them.

The March of Dimes is the country’s largest charity devoted to the health of babies, but it continues to waste as much as $30 million a year on useless and cruel animal experiments that do not help mothers or babies. The March of Dimes has funded many controversial experiments, including freezing newborn ferrets, tethering pregnant monkeys to cages by cables running through the mothers’ uteruses and into their fetuses’ bodies, and sewing shut the eyelids of newborn kittens.

Experiments like these are not only cruel but they also have failed to lead to improvements in children’s health. The rate of premature births in the United States has increased 30 percent since 1983 to more than 500,000 per year, and 23 out of 26 birth defects monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over a two-decade period have increased or remained the same. While the United States has the second-highest infant mortality rate in the industrialized world (ahead of only Latvia), other nations—including some third-world countries—have improved the health of their mothers and babies by relying on proven measures such as preventive health services, social services, and maternal education. […]

What You Can Do

* PCRM needs volunteers to attend WalkAmerica events and let March of Dimes supporters in on the truth about where their money goes. Order your leaflets today. Free lawn signs and posters are also available.

* Contact March of Dimes sponsors, both local and national, and tell them why you aren’t supporting the charity—and how they can help babies humanely. Order a sponsor pack.

Additional talking points, resources, and a guide to cruelty-free charities can be found at PETA’s marchofcrimes.org.

—————–

Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts PCRM Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine animal research vivisection March of Dimes March of Crimes fundraising WalkAmerica