A Simple Way to Save an Animal’s Life Neal Barnard, M.D. – Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Animal Guardian, Vol 9, No. 4, 1996 – Doris Day Animal League
When you read about cruel animal experiments, do you ever think that you might hold the key to stopping some of these experiments — that you might actually be the one to give them the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”?
Although many experiments are funded by government or military programs that are insulated from the public, there is one large group of animal experiments whose sponsors are exquisitely sensitive to public opinion. Certain charities give money year after year to animal experimenters. That money comes from well-meaning donors who have never had a look inside the laboratories that stay in business because of these donations.
But if a charity were to lose even a portion of its public support because of such experiments, it would have every reason to emulate those charities that fund no animal research. In England, the Wolfson Foundation announced that it would fund no animal experiments. In the process, other research-sponsoring charities knew that it had gained a tremendous advantage over them in the competition for donations. After all, there are no donors who especially want money to go to animal experiments, but there are many who definitely do not want their donations going in that direction. Charities that continue to pay for animal experiments risk losing donations and legacies, some of which will be substantial.
On this side of the Atlantic, charities’ policies are only gradually becoming known. But what an eye-opener they are!
The March of Dimes has paid for many animal experiments including experiments in which animals were exposed to alcohol, cocaine, or nicotine, and even experiments in which kittens’ eyes were sewn closed in order to demonstrate the effects on brain development. On the other hand, Easter Seals funds no animal experiments at all and has an explicit policy against making any such grants.
The American Kidney Fund and the Heimlich Foundation never sponsor any animal experiments, while the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association, unfortunately, still do.
Charities are sometimes slow to respond to donors’ wishes, particularly those charities that have been around so long that they have become set in their ways. But there is no doubt about it — charities do not like being connected with cruelty.
The National Head Injury Foundation gave a financial award to a controversial primate experimenter several years ago, and has since tried to distance itself from that indiscretion and from all other animal experiments. While the Shriner’s Burn Institute and Shriner’s Hospitals still pay for many animal experiments, the International Association of Firefighters Burn Foundation is investigating in non-animal alternatives, particularly cellular research, and welcomes the goodwill that this policy brings.
Some animal research foundations try to appease donors by saying that animals are “humanely” treated, that a committee reviews all experiments before they are funded, or that they mainly use small, less popular animals, such as rats and mice. Needless to say, such statements do nothing to address donors’ real concerns.
Before you make a contribution to a charity to help make people’s lives better, please make sure they aren’t hurting animals to reach their goals.
What You Can Do:
1. When a research facility asks for a donation, let them know that you only support those with a strict no-animal-experiments policy. Write to charities, and write again.
2. Be sure to thank charities, such as Easter Seals, for their compassionate, no-animal-experiments policy.
3. Make copies of this list and give to friends and relatives, and pass it out in your neighborhood.
Health Charities Which Do Not Fund Animal Research
American Kidney Fund 6110 Executive Boulevard, Suite 1010
Rockville, MD 20852
Arthritis Research Institute of America 300 S. Duncan Avenue, Suite 240
Clearwater, FL 34615
Association of Birth Defect Children 827 Irma Avenue
Orlando, FL 32803
Cancer Care 1180 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Cancer Prevention & Survival Fund, PCRM 5100 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
Designer Institute for AIDS
150 West 26th Street, Suite 602
New York, NY 10001
Disabled American Veterans P.O. Box 14301
Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301
Easter Seals 230 West Monroe Street, Suite 1800
Chicago, IL 60606-4703
The Green Foundation 9481 Lechner Road
Forth Worth, TX 76179-4055
Heimlich Foundation 2368 Victory Parkway, Suite 410
Cincinnati, OH 45206
International Association of Firefighters Burn Foundation 1750 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006
International Child Health Foundation American City Bldg; P.O. Box 1205
Columbia, MD 21044
International Eye Foundation 7801 Norfolk Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
Multiple Sclerosis Association of America 601 White Horse Pike
Oaklyn, NJ 08107
National Burn Victim Foundation 32-34 Scotland Road
Orange, NJ 07050
National Foundation of the Blind 1800 Johnson Street, Suite 300
Baltimore, MD 20230-4998
National Head Injury Foundation 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20036-1904
The Rheumatoid Disease Foundation 5106 Harding Road
Franklin, TN 37064
Health Charities Which Still Fund Animal Research
Alzheimer’s Association 919 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1000
Chicago, IL 60611-1676
American Cancer Society 1599 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
American Diabetes Association 1660 Duke Street
Alexandra, VA 22314
American Heart Association 7320 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, TX 75231-4599
American Institute for Cancer Research 1759 R Street, NW
Washington, DC 20069
American Lung Association 1740 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
American Parkinson Disease Association 60 Bay Street
Staten Island, NY 10301
Arthritis Foundation 1314 Spring Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30309
Cancer Prevention Project 1120 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 303
Washington, DC 20069
City of Hope
30 West 26th Street, Suite 301
New York, NY 10010
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation 6931 Arlington Road
Bethesda, MD 20814
Epilepsy Foundation of America 4351 Garden City Drive
Landover, MD 20785
The Foundation Fighting Blindness 1401 Mt. Royal Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21217
Joslin Diabetes Center One Joslin Place
Boston, MA 02215
Leukemia Society of America 600 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10016
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation 1275 Mamaroneck Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605
Muscular Dystrophy Association 3561 East Sunrise Drive
Tucson, AZ 85718
National Foundation for Cancer Research 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 332W
Bethesda, MD 20814
National Kidney Foundation
30 E. 33rd Street
New York, NY 10016
National Multiple Sclerosis Society 733 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017-3288
National Parkinson Foundation
1501 9th Avenue
Miami, FL 33136
National Psoriasis Foundation
660 SW 92nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97223-7195
Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer 3800 Reservoir Road, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Parkinson’s Disease Foundation
650 West 168th Street
New York, NY 10032-9982
Shriner’s Burn Institute 51 Blossom Street
Boston, MA 02114
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 1 St. Jude Place Bldg, P.O. Box 3704
Memphis, TN 38173-0704