For Immediate Release:
September 27, 2000

Contact:
Jay Kelly 757-622-7382

Atlanta -- Armed with bloody dimes and a clothesline of stuffed "babies" to show how the March of Dimes "hangs babies out to dry while animals die," PETA members will kick off a new national campaign against the charity, converging on its Atlanta headquarters:

Date: Thursday, September 28
Time: 12 noon
Place: 1776 Peachtree St.

PETA wants potential donors to know that, unlike charities such as Easter Seals and Birth Defect Research for Children, the March of Dimes has funded experiments in which cats' eyes have been sewn shut, monkeys have been kept in body restraints for days at a time, ferrets and other animals have suffered severe brain damage, and pregnant rats and newborn opossums have been forced to ingest alcohol, nicotine, and cocaine. Nowadays, many charities will not fund animal tests, seeing them as a poor use of money and, instead, put all their funds into modern research methods involving human DNA, prevention, and other programs that directly apply to human health, never spending a dime on animal tests.

"Every dollar spent on animal tests is one that could have been used to fund a national birth defects registry or some other truly life-saving project for babies," says Kelly. "Donors today want to know if they are giving money to save babies or contributing to painful animal tests."

Consumers can order PETA's free charities guide that lists which charities fund animal experimentation and which do not by calling PETA's Charities Hotline 1-866-TEST-KIND.