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March of Dimes marches all over protestors
by Toni Bartone
Sunday, Sep. 01, 2002 at 5:38 PM
March of Dimes volunteers with garbage bags tried to discourage three activists from passing out literature at Walk America, the annual March of Dimes fundraiser birth defect research, on Sunday April 28.
March of Dimes volunteers with garbage bags tried to discourage three activists from passing out literature at Walk America, the annual March of Dimes fundraiser birth defect research, on Sunday April 28.
"They would stand right in front of us and prevent us from talking to people," Candice Zawoiski said.
Zawoiski, secretary of the University of Pittsburgh organization Voices for Animal Liberation, along with another member and organizer Dee Dee Luterman, met on a sidewalk at Point State Park to hand out literature and talk to walkers about the March of Dimes' use of funds for animal testing, said Luterman.
According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA's) website, the March of Dimes funds animal experiments involving implanting wires into the uteruses of pregnant monkeys, injecting chemicals into the brains of ferrets and administering cocaine, nicotine and alcohol to pregnant rats. These tests are performed on animals although the effects on developing fetuses are well known, according to PETA.
The literature that the three women passed out informed walkers of such animal experiments and encouraged them to donate to birth defect charities that don't fund animal research.
"It's not that we' re against the March of Dimes or their mission, we're against the testing," Zawoiski said.
About 15 minutes after the three started handing out leaflets on a sidewalk, March of Dimes voluteers held out garbage bags in increasing numbers and told walkers to dispose of the literature, Luterman said.
"I'm not there to get arrested," Luterman said, "I was upset, but I just kept doing what I'm doing."
Luterman said that police also told the three that they were not allowed to pass out literature on the sidewalk, although she had contacted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) before the walk regarding laws on passing out literture at such an event.
"There's a whole series of people making a lot of money [from animal tests]," said Luterman, "Unfortunately, in America, it comes down to money."
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