10 million is wasted on 70 animal experiments funded by March of Dimes

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I knew I hated the March of Dimes but this is mind-blowing!http://www.pcrm.org/resch/charities/mod_overview.htmlMarch of Dimes-Funded Animal Experiments: An Overview

 

REVIEWED BY PEGGY CARLSON, M.D., and KRISTIE STOICK, M.P.H.EXTENT, COST, and TYPES of ANIMALS USED

 

The March of Dimes does not report the number of animals used per year. The March of Dimes uses many different species of animals, including primates, cats, dogs, rabbits, pigs, hamsters, ferrets, guinea pigs, sheep, and birds. A yearly list of approved grants is available from the March of Dimes. This list gives only a brief description of the experiment, and it is often difficult to tell from that if any particular experiment involves animals.

 

 

 

After reviewing the grant lists for 2002, we examined the experiments thatunquestionably employed vertebrate animals. The cost of these studies totaled more than $10.25 million for 70 experiments.

 

The average cost of the animal experiments tallied was $147,000. Next, we reviewed the same grant list for the same year, this time looking for experiments that most likely involved animals but did not specifically list the name of an animal in the title or description. Including this new tally, the total amount of animal research for 2002 included 177 experiments, costing approximately $27 million. This may or may not include experiments involving tissues removed from live animals.

 

Our estimates reveal that the portion of experiments funded by the March of Dimes that involve animals, when compared against the total number of research grants funded, is probably about 50 percent. If one were to conservatively estimate that 50 animals were used in each grant, over 8,000animals are involved in March of Dimes-funded research each year.

 

EXAMPLES of ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS FUNDED by the MARCH of DIMESSubstance Testing Experiments The March of Dimes has conducted animal tests of many substances, including alcohol, cocaine, nicotine, benzodiazepines, retinoids, benzene, and arsenite.

 

Sex-Related Spatial Learning Differences After PrenatalCocaine Exposure in the Young Adult Rat (Levin)This study examined the effect of prenatal cocaine exposureon the learning performance of rats. Pregnant rats were givendaily injections of cocaine. The study found that fetalcocaine exposure impaired the spatial learning of femalerats, whereas the males showed no impairment of performance.In contrast to this study, a previous study by other authorsshowed prenatal cocaine exposure to result in males who wereimpaired and females who were unaffected in spatial learning.Lots More on website.

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