CONSCIENCE ASSAULT

Save animals, hang babies

By Sam Pfeifle

HITTING WHERE IT HURTS: an example of PETA's campaign against March of Dimes.

Most people would agree that the March of Dimes is a pretty wonderful organization. They raise money for research to prevent birth defects. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Well, Jay Kelley, and his fellow members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have a few problems with the charitable organization. Namely, according to PETA, that they’ve “sewed cats’ eyes shut, kept monkeys in restraints for days at a time . . . and given pregnant rats and newborn opossums alcohol, nicotine, and cocaine.”

To alert the public to this purported outrage, Kelley has been traveling the country protesting outside of local March of Dimes offices, after attempts to converse with the organization failed (for a complete log of his attempts and March of Dimes’s response, see marchofcrimes.org). On Friday, Kelley arrives in Falmouth to protest outside of the March of Dimes office at 60 Gray Road in Falmouth.

The Phoenix called to ask him what he’d be doing.

 

The Phoenix: So, what will you be doing by way of protest?

Kelley: They’ve strapped socially intelligent primates in to restraining chairs for days at a time, and they actually administer cocaine, alcohol, and nicotine to pregnant rats and mice, despite the fact that we all know that these substances harm developing babies.

 

Q: Okay, but what will you be actually doing?

A: Okay, we’re going to be out in front of the regional office, it’s in Falmouth, and we’re going to have a clothesline with stuffed babies hanging off of it, underneath a banner that says “March of Dimes hangs babies out to dry. Stop animal tests.” And this is to illustrate that every time the March of Dimes wastes money on cruel and ineffective experiments, that’s money stolen from babies and families who could have been helped with that money.

 

Q: Now, why March of Dimes? There are lots of organizations that test on animals, and March of Dimes, if you asked me about it, I’d probably say it’s a good place. How did this become your campaign?

A: This grew out of our Caring Consumer campaign that was aimed at getting consumer products companies to stop testing their products on animals. And people started calling us saying, “I don’t want to buy products that are tested on animals, but I also don’t want to give to charities that test on animals anymore.” So we started doing research into all the major health charities in the United States, and what we uncovered was really horrifying. The March of Dimes is funding some of the most cruel, the most outdated, and the most wasteful experiments taking place these days.

 

Q: I’m sure you’ve had some dialogue with them. How did they defend their actions to you?

A: Basically, I did about four months of research and wrote them a letter. I received nothing but a form letter back that addressed none of our concerns. So I wrote another letter telling them we need to get together and talk about this, or we’re going to launch a national campaign against them, and we never heard back.

And we’ve also sent out letters to every regional office, asking them to speak out to the national office, which controls all the funding. And we received not a single response from a regional office.

 

Q: What are some organizations that perform this work that don’t test on animals?

A: Easter Seals and Birth Defects Research for Children are two organizations with very similar missions to the March of Dimes, yet those charities help people and fund valuable research without using animals.

 

Q: What kind of response do you get to these “shocking” protests from the general public?

A: The response from the public has been fantastic. People have been truly horrified to find out the March of Dimes is doing this kind of testing. And people are excited to learn about the alternative charities.

 

Q: But what about as they pass you on the street? Do you get looks of disgust, anger . . .

A: They’re definitely shocked at first, just extremely shocked. But we live in a tabloid era. People sort of have to be shocked to get their attention. So, once we have their attention, then we have a chance to show them our leaflet, talk to them a little bit, show them our video, let them know why we’re out there, let them know why we have to use such shocking imagery. That’s when people really come around. People do not want their charitable donations to be going to animal experiments.