Walk Away from WalkAmerica

WalkAmerica, March of Dimes' largest annual fundraiser, is taking place now in cities across the United States. I participated in this event more than sixteen years ago, believing funds would be used to fight birth defects. Since then, I've had three surgeries to correct foot deformities that doctors suspect were caused by Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT), a hereditary progressive nerve disorder of the feet, lower legs and hands. CMT is the most common inherited neurological disorder, characterized by a high-arched foot and gait disturbances.

Unbeknownst to many donors, a number of health charities, including the March of Dimes, waste time and money on animal experiments instead of devoting all of their funds to worthwhile projects that may truly help people with CMT and other disabilities or diseases.

This causes me far greater distress than any genetic defect ever could. It's shameful that a health charity would inflict the same pain and suffering on animals that it wishes to eliminate in humans.

Animal research proponents often like to claim that animal rights advocates would change their minds about animal experimentation if they had diseases or disabilities. I didn't. In fact, I find the implication that those of us with disabilities would automatically support animal experimentation insulting. It suggests that people with diseases and disabilities are selfish, callous, and desperate, and will support cruelty to animals in order to help themselves-no matter how futile the chance.

It's simply unethical to cause harm to one species under the guise of helping another-unethical and ineffective. Although animals feel pain and fear like people, there are enormous physiological differences between animals and humans; data taken from one species cannot always be correctly applied to another. Vast differences exist even between mice and rats, let alone rats and humans.

Every dollar spent on animal research is a dollar that could have been better spent on humane, effective methods of fighting birth defects and helping people.