PCRM Seeks to Reform the March of Dimes

During April and May, the March of Dimes (MOD) sponsors WalkAmerica charity walks in hundreds of cities across the country. This year, PCRM hopes that many walkers will learn that the MOD has yet to take a stand against cruel and unnecessary animal experiments.

In April, PCRM launched a new Web site that provides helpful information about the March of Dimes. The Web site opens with a two-minute flash video that illustrates how money donated to the MOD often funds animal experiments.

Walkers in cities such as Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta saw a PCRM-sponsored mobile billboard circling near the walkers’ route. The billboard asks “How can you help all of these babies?” and features not only a human infant, but also a lamb, kitten, and other baby animals. Volunteers toured with the billboard to hand out more information. Other cities visited by the mobile billboard were Scottsdale, Ariz., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., White Plains, N.Y., and Washington.

Hundreds of volunteers signed up to hand out informational leaflets at walks across the country. The leaflets contain eye-opening information about the kinds of cruel experiments conducted on animals by the MOD and the alternatives that are available. The leaflets also provide the names of several Humane Seal charities, including charities that fund research on birth defects without using animals.

The MOD has funded many controversial experiments, including one in which kittens’ eyes were sewn shut to study visual deprivation and another that involved dehydrating pregnant sheep. Such experiments have done little or nothing to prevent birth defects. Meanwhile, research with human populations has led to the identification of fetal rubella syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, and the association of folic acid supplementation with the prevention of spinal cord abnormalities, among other important discoveries.

Please join us in asking the March of Dimes to start directing its money to modern research and prevention programs that will better help both animals and babies.

PCRM Online, May 2006

Media Center | Health | Research | About PCRM | Catalog | Join Us | Search | Site Index | Home

The site does not provide medical or legal advice. This Web site is for information purposes only.
Full Disclaimer | Privacy Policy