March of Dimes

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This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

The March of Dimes is a voluntary health organization concerned with birth defects.

• Dr. Jennifer L. Howse - President

Studies on pregnant & infant animals

Addiction, xenotransplantation & sensory deprivation

Human studies have clearly demonstrated the negative effects of tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse on pregnancy. Nevertheless, the March of Dimes continues to fund painful animal testing on animals and their infants. The March of Dimes has funneled millions into nicotine, alcohol and cocaine addiction experiments, sensory deprivation and xenotransplantation (transplanting organs from one species to another). Research includes:

• Sewing shut the eyes of newborn kittens for one year before killing them.
• Keeping newborn kittens in complete darkness for 3 to 5 months before killing them.
• Removing fetal kittens from the uterus and implanting them with pumps which inject a nerve destroying drug. They are then implanted back into the uterus and killed after birth.
• Implanting electric pumps into the backs of pregnant rats to inject nicotine.
• Injecting pregnant rats with cocaine.
• Injecting newborn possums with alcohol and decapitating them any where from between one hour and 32 weeks later (at which point, sexual organs are removed.)
• Transplanting organs from pigs to baboons (who die within hours) and transplanting organs from guinea pigs to rats.
• Destroying the ear drums of unborn lambs and killing mother sheep and lambs just before birth to examine their brains.

Increasing rate of birth defects

The Birth Defects Monitoring Program (BDMP) monitors birth defects using data collected when newborn infants are discharged from hospital. The BDMP was initiated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1974. In 1990, researchers looking for trends examined records for 38 types of birth defects from 1979-80 through 1986-87. During this seven-year period, of the 38 types of birth defects, 29 increased; two decreased; and seven remained stable (meaning they changed less than 2% per year during the period).

Approximately 25% of all infant deaths could be eliminated with better pre-natal services. Infant deaths would decrease by 10 to 25% if women gave up smoking during pregnancy. Alcohol abuse during pregnancy is the leading cause of preventable birth defects.

Corporate donors

Bank of America is a corporate donor to March of Dimes.

National Officers (2008)

Accessed May 2010:

• Kenneth A. May - Chair of the Board
• Mark Selcow - Vice Chair of the Board
• David R. Smith - Vice Chair of the Board
• Carol Evans - Vice Chair of the Board
• Thomas A. Russo - Treasurer
• LaVerne H. Council - Secretary
• Jennifer L. Howse - President
• Jane Massey - Executive Vice President; Chief Operating Officer
• Alan R. Fleischman - Medical Director
• Lisa Bellsey - Senior Vice President & General Counsel ; Assistant Secretary
• Richard E. Mulligan - Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer; Assistant Treasurer

Articles & sources

Sourcewatch articles

• Animal testing
• Bank of America
• Centers for Disease Control
• Eliot Spindel
• Humane Movement
• National Primate Research Center System
• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Ten Worst Laboratories
• Xenotransplantation
• Miriam Buhl

External articles

• Heather Moore Dying for a Cigarette, Impact Press, February-March 2002

External resources

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