We Support the Birth Defect Research for Children Charity!

Do you want to help prevent birth defects but not know which charity to give to? Let us help.

Birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, with the percentage of infant deaths resulting from birth defects mushrooming from 7 percent in 1919 to 19.7 percent in 1999. The Pew Environmental Health Commission estimates that more than 60 percent of birth defects could be prevented if we could identify their causes. Creating a national birth-defect registry linking birth defects to exposure to radiation, medication, alcohol, smoking, chemicals, heavy metals, and other environmental toxins is the most powerful line of attack in the fight against birth defects.

Birth Defect Research for Children, Inc. (BDRC), is a wonderful nonprofit organization doing exactly this. BDRC sponsors the National Birth Defect Registry, a research project that investigates and tabulates associations between birth defects and lifestyle and environmental factors.

Without harming any animals as some other birth-defect charities do, Birth Defect Research for Children focuses on preventing birth defects while providing information and support for parents struggling to learn how to best care for their children with birth defects.

• Birth Defect Research for Children, Inc.
• 930 Woodcock Rd., Ste. 225
• Orlando, FL 32803

Helping Without Hurting

When Betty and Mike Mekdeci’s son was born with birth defects in 1975, the concerned couple was shocked to discover that the cause of his ailment was Bendectin, a medication prescribed to Betty during her pregnancy to relieve nausea and vomiting. Through seven years of researching the drug, they learned that many toxic exposures had not been adequately recognized as potential causes of birth defects, nor did parents have adequate access to information on risk factors associated with birth defects. In 1982, after they helped remove Bendectin from the world market, the Mekdecis founded the Association of Birth Defect Children (now Birth Defect Research for Children) to “provide birth defect information to parents and to investigate the causes of birth defects that could have been prevented.”

Inspired by their story and the fact that they have chosen not to rely on archaic animal tests, PETA honored Birth Defect Research for Children with our first-ever Life-Saver Charity Award for its work helping humans without hurting animals. Betty Mekdeci, now executive director of the charity, wrote us, “On behalf of the staff and volunteers at Birth Defect Research for Children, thank you for awarding our organization PETA’s Life Saver Charity Award. This was a wonderful honor and we will be pleased to display your award in our offices. (I loved the bunny!)” She also went on to say, “I believe that our National Birth Defect Registry proves that you do not have to sacrifice animals to prevent birth defects.”

To read Betty’s letter, click here.

To learn more about Birth Defect Research for Children, click here.