Publication date: 04/08/2002

The March of Dimes kills kittens and cute little monkeys! Or, at least, so says a Bay Area man suing the nonprofit. Alfredo Kuba , who runs the South Bay chapter of In Defense of Animals , claims the organization has been misleading donors for years about its natal and prenatal research. Instead of helping babies, Kuba says, the March of Dimes sews the eyelids of kittens shut and conducts vile experiments on primates.

The March of Dimes? "Yes," said Kuba , talking from his Mountain View home. "We wish we could sue everyone that does this sort of thing, but we can't." Kuba takes particular issue with "WalkAmerica," a nationwide campaign where people gather pledges for baby research.

The San Francisco march will take place on April 27 at Fort Mason. People have no idea where that money is going, said Kuba, who added he's been leafleting local homes and cars for five years about the issue. "They've been doing it for decades, and it's a money-maker for them," said Kuba. "They're not concerned about the health of the babies, they are worried about the cash."

This is not the first time Kuba has been in the public eye for the animal cause. In December 2000, he led a protest in Los Altos arguing for the prohibition of horse-drawn carriages -- because it's hard on the quadruped's feet. Kuba , who filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court, says he wants the suit to expose how the organization uses its money.

There are plenty of non-invasive ways of doing the sort of research the March of Dimes supposedly wants, he said. "We're urging people to give to organizations like Easter Seals because they don't do anything along these lines," he said. Kuba alleges in the lawsuit that March of Dimes conducts research like the following: -- Pregnant primates are tethered to cages in straightjackets, with cables and monitors coming out of their uteruses; -- the mothers are exposed to bacteria, which induces labor, and then the babies are taken away and killed during other experiments.

The March of Dimes "Be a Hero" "campaign is unfair, fraudulent and misleading in that it does not advise potential supporters that they will be supporting invasive animal research," the suit states. The suit demands that March of Dimes inform participants about the animal research, and refund all the money it has received from the "WalkAmerica" promotion -- a sum that would reach in the hundreds of millions. March of Dimes could not be reached for comment. March of Dimes was founded in 1938 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to find a cure for polio. Since the discovery of the Salk vaccine, the organization has shifted its focus to preventing birth defects and infant mortality.