Cruel Muscular Dystrophy Experiments in France Exposed

“I have not asked for animals to suffer for me.”

Pascaline Wittkowski—a woman who has suffered for 40 years from muscular dystrophy (MD)—has worked with PETA France to condemn cruel and pointless dog experiments on the eve of a major fund-raising telethon for MD experiments.

Wittkowski told major French magazine L’OBS that if donors really want to help MD patients, the first step is to stop giving money to the French charity AFM-Téléthon—which funds painful and torturous MD experiments on dogs at Alfort National Veterinary School. The L’OBS feature includes a video released by PETA and PETA France in which Wittkowski denounces MD experiments performed on dogs in laboratories in France and the U.S., including at Texas A&M University.

In the video, she emphatically declares that wasteful animal experiments offer patients such as herself only false hope. She condemns the cruelty of the experiments, in which dogs are bred to have a canine form of the crippling disease.

“[T]hey’re maintaining this illusion with people. They’re maintaining this lie of telling them, ‘We’re going to heal you,’” she says.

She explains why after decades of testing on dogs, there’s still no cure or treatment to alleviate MD symptoms in human patients with this simple yet powerful statement: “I am not a dog.”

Charities such as the AFM-Téléthon harm animals and divert money away from relevant, effective non-animal research that could help save lives.

Join MD Patients Calling for an End to These Experiments

Both MD patients, such as Pascaline Wittkowski, and dogs deserve better. Please take a stand against cruel and senseless MD experiments on dogs. Tell Texas A&M University to pursue advanced science, stop breeding dogs to have MD, and allow the remaining dogs in its laboratories to be adopted into loving homes.