Charities
Charities come under the voluntary sector, which both directly and indirectly is wholly supported by "public money" via the taxpayer, memberships, donations and covenants yet the public are continuously being misled as to what exactly some of these charities fund. It is for this reason that growing numbers of people believe that the 'Freedom of Information Act' should include the voluntary sector. The following example clearly demonstrates why more openness and transparency is essential:
Marie Curie Cancer Care charity boxes are displayed in certain stores with no mention of research on the labels yet Marie Curie Cancer Care is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and runs its own research institute. On writing to some of these stores a member of NMRM was informed that all money collected from their customers was used to fund nursing care and not research. But not one representative of these stores would respond when asked if this money, collected by them and entrusted to them by their customers, had actually been ring-fenced for nursing care, and if they had it in writing.
Vivisection is a contentious issue, which is why many of the charities funding it avoid all mention of research when it comes to their collecting boxes. Businesses supporting such charities, especially those who display charity boxes on their premises, should be required, by law, to 'come clean' on this issue and not mislead their customers.
The major vivisection research charities are extremely rich; for example, before they started trading as 'Cancer Research UK (CRUK)', The Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the Cancer Research Campaign had around 170 years of fundraising between them. These charities are increasingly adept at marketing guilt and fear; mass fear has guaranteed them a massive and ceaseless flow of research funds. According to Diana Garnham, when Chief Executive of the Association of Medical Research Charities (ARMC), now Chief Executive of the Science Council:
"Even The Sun covers research constantly. They're always talking in terms of breakthroughs, which is naive, but it's there. People absorb it and they want to give money. If you say you are close to identifying a gene, the money comes in. Look at how the rare inherited diseases have got the public's imagination..."
Some of the most innocent sounding charities fund vivisection, either directly or indirectly - these include 'Help The Aged' and 'Age Concern' (Age UK) - yet the majority of people who donate to them do so believing that the money they give will all go towards providing heating and care for the poor and elderly within our society. But Guide Dogs ( previously Guide Dogs for the Blind) is the prime example.
Few people to whom we have spoken in relation to this organisation know that they finance research. The following is from the ‘Research’ page of the Guide Dogs website, under National Institute for Health Research (NIHR):
"National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) makes Guide Dogs a partner."
On the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) website is stated:
"We work in close partnership with the Medical Research Council which funds animal research."
If that were not shocking enough, what of the Scottish Society for the Protection of Animals, SSPCAs, investment in oil giant Shell, a company that admits to conducting tests on animals. The animals named in a frontpage article from the 17th January 2017 edition of the Scottish Mail were: rabbits, guinea pigs, birds and fish. Shell admits to carrying out more than 400,000 tests.
Vivisection is nothing less than scientific fraud. Anyone who wishes to avoid funding it but wants to give to a good cause, would be wise to write to their chosen charity requesting to know if it funds research, either directly or indirectly; it is better to obtain an answer in writing for obvious reasons. People with access to the Internet will be able to learn more about the various charities, because some do admit on websites to funding research; although in some cases you will need to search hard in order to find this word.
As for those charities and organisations claiming to fund 'alternatives', as stated under Cancer in our Most Publicised Diseases section, vivisectors generally encourage the idea of replacing and refining, knowing that it will enable them to continue with their animal experiments virtually unhindered while appearing to be seeking 'alternatives'. The situation is clearly outlined in the following passage:
"Most alternative methods are based not on truly scientific methods such as Human cell and tissue cultures and clinical investigations of human patients, but rather on Animal cell and tissue cultures. Thus, for the so-called validation of alternative methods - a process which takes years, if ever, to complete - the researchers not only compare the data for their alternative methods with the data from animal experiments, but they also repeat the very animal experiments their alternative methods are supposed to replace, in order to obtain additional data for the purpose of further comparisons! This endless and absolutely senseless repetition of animal experiments over a period of years (despite masses of data from decades of previous animal experiments) leads neither to the reduction, nor the replacement, but rather to the perpetration of animal experiments, causing further harm to medicine and consequently the patient."
Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine (DLRM) - see our 'links' page.
"Freed from the error of vivisection, future researchers will be able to base medical research on a genuinely scientific foundation gradually restoring to medicine that scientific quality that is today usurped by vivisectionist error."
Prof. Pietro Croce, MD, Vivisection or Science (see books section).
Vivisection charities continually try to justify themselves by saying that animal testing is law yet this is not written in law (see our home page).
Charity Boxes
Money is collected on a daily basis in so-called ‘charity’ boxes placed in shops. Some charity! Vivisectors. It is possible to have these boxes removed.- 1) Speak to, or write to, the Manager of the Shop or Chief Executive of the company.
- 2) Ask if he/she knows what the charity funds; you can inform the manager of our website should you wish to do so.
- 3) Raise your objection and say if the box is not removed then you will have to take your custom elsewhere.
A nurse sent a message to NMRM saying that she had had success in getting these boxes removed. Shops need your custom.
NB: There are a couple of articles concerning charities on our Letters, Speeches and Articles page.