July 2000 News

New Book Dissects the Issue of Dissection

July 24, 2000

An estimated 6 million vertebrate animals are dissected in U.S. high schools each year. Add elementary and middle schools, colleges and graduate programs, and the number of animals used annually for educational purposes in the United States probably runs close to 10 million vertebrates and 10 million invertebrates.

Is the gain in student knowledge worth the cost in animal lives?

"The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, and Recommendations," written by Dr. Jonathan Balcombe and published by the Humane Society Press, questions the use of animals in the classroom--both for dissection and for live-animal experiments--and argues for a more humane approach. Balcombe, who earned his Ph.D. in ethology from the University of Tennessee, serves as associate director for education in the Animal Research Issues section of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

Balcombe raises two principal objections to animal dissections: (1) concern for the way animals are treated before they arrive in the classroom; and (2) concern for the effect the exercise has on students' values and attitudes toward life. Dissections "should not be conducted in the absence of ethical discussions about the origins of the animals and the moral implications of using them," Balcombe contends.

The book raises ecological concerns (exploiting already vulnerable wild animal populations) and safety concerns (student exposure to formaldehyde, which is classified as a "toxic and hazardous substance") as well. It addresses a variety of topics, including student attitudes toward dissection, the kinds and numbers of animals used, arguments offered in support of dissection, legal and policy issues, and alternatives to dissection--what's available and how these alternatives compare to hands-on dissection.

The past 20 years have brought a spectacular proliferation of new learning materials that can be used in place of animal dissection, Balcombe points out. Computer-based programs are by far the most common, but other alternatives include videotapes, 3-D models, and realistic manikins.

And these alternatives are readily available--often for free. The Humane Society's Humane Education Loan Program, for example, will loan up-to-date dissection alternatives to students and teachers at no cost to the borrower except return postage. For information on this program, go here. At least three other animal protection organizations in the United States operate similar loan programs: the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS), the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS), and the Ethical Science and Education Coalition (ESEC). The European Network of Individuals and Campaigns for Humane Education (EuroNICHE) also runs an alternatives loan program, as does the Australian office of Humane Society International.

"When one considers the associated costs--suffering and death in the supply trade, disruption of wild animal populations, messages that tend to undermine rather than reinforce respect for life and concern for others, rising costs of animal carcasses (as compared with alternatives with longer shelf lives), exposure to potentially harmful chemicals, and greater time expenditures in preparing and presenting various animal-based exercises--the balance clearly falls on the side of abandoning dissection, at least in its current form," Balcombe concludes.

"The Use of Animals in Higher Education" is available online free of charge on the Humane Society web site. You can find it here. It currently is in PDF format, which means you will need Acrobat Reader to open the file. HSUS is in the process of coding it for easier reading on the web, however. You may also purchase a printed copy of the book for $10.00 (regularly $19.95), for a limited time only, directly from HSUS. For information on purchasing the book contact Meghan Schofield at mschofield@hsus.org or by phone at 202-452-1100.