Frequently Asked Questions

Does the March of Dimes really fund horrific animal experiments? Sadly, yes, though the charity is tight-lipped about it! The March of Dimes has funneled millions of dollars into animal experiments. March of Dimes-funded experimenters have: sewn shut newborn kittens’ eyes, left them blind for a year, and then killed them; cut organs from pigs and stitched them into primates; and addicted pregnant animals to alcohol, nicotine and cocaine. In one study (results published in 1998), experimenters cut into the abdomens of pregnant sheep and destroyed the ear drums of the unborn lambs. Just before birth, the mother sheep and lambs were killed, and the brains were cut from the lambs to be examined. The March of Dimes "only" uses mice and rats, doesn’t it? March of Dimes has funded experiments using pigs, sheep, dogs, hamsters, rabbits, rats, cats, opossums, birds, primates, and other animals, and has made it clear that it will fund experiments on any species it chooses. However, even if March of Dimes experimented on mice and rats exclusively, it would still be wrong. Rats and mice feel pain every bit as much as cats or dogs—and as much as you or I. Is there evidence of poor treatment of animals in March of Dimes funded experiments? All animal experiments involve physical and/or psychological harm to the animals. But, disturbingly, primates in experiments funded by the March of Dimes have died due to the absence of an anesthesiologist during surgery, lack of adequate monitoring after surgery, and from "technical problems." March of Dimes funded experimenters have also restrained monkeys in chairs for many days at a time, sewn cats' eyes shut, and damaged the brains of ferrets and other animals. Don’t animal protection laws prevent March of Dimes-funded experimenters from harming animals? The Animal Welfare Act, which is the only law that protects animals in laboratories, deals only with housekeeping issues, such as cage size and transportation. Experimenters can do whatever they want to an animal—even perform painful, invasive experiments without anesthetics or painkillers. Unbelievably, government officials have chosen to interpret the Act to exclude mice and rats, so that the species that comprise 90 percent of all animals used in laboratories have no protections under the law! On top of these shocking facts, the Animal Welfare Act, even as weak as it is, is not adequately enforced. Could the March of Dimes' animal experiments actually save human babies? Birth defects are prevented and babies are saved when research dollars go to effective and relevant research, which comes from studying human problems and human babies, not from sewing kittens' eyes shut or addicting rats to cocaine. In fact, virtually all known developmental hazards have been identified through studies of human populations. The dangers of thalidomide, alcohol, methyl mercury, and lead, just to name a few, were all discovered by observing people, not animals. Since the March of Dimes devotes only some of its resources to animal experiments, isn't there enough money to fund both animal experiments and other programs? Every dollar that the March of Dimes wastes on cruel, useless animal experiments is a dollar not invested in programs that do work. Relying on faulty animal tests not only causes needless suffering for animals, it also puts human health in jeopardy. Animal experimentation also diverts millions of dollars from valuable human studies and research programs. For instance, a National Birth Defects Registry is desperately needed to uncover the root causes of birth defects; the largest registry in the United States, operated by the Centers for Disease Control, is so underfunded that it only collects limited information. Improved prenatal care is desperately needed. Every year, 1.2 million women receive insufficient prenatal care, even though adequate care could prevent as much as 25 percent of all infant deaths. Help for pregnant women who smoke could decrease infant deaths by an estimated 10 percent. Alcohol abuse during pregnancy is the leading preventable cause of birth defects and mental retardation. Yet rats and other animals are injected with alcohol while women seeking help can’t find it. Additionally, teenage pregnancies, AIDS, and drug abuse continue to be major threats to unborn children that require more resources than they currently receive.