Exciting news from our pals at PETA India! Following that group's extensive campaign, the Indian government has issued guidelines to the Medical Council of India, the Pharmacy Council of India, and the University Grants Commission instructing them to completely stop dissection and experimentation on animals to train both undergraduate and postgraduate students and use non-animal methods of teaching instead.

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Going All Out for All Animals in Laboratories

This campaign was hard-fought. In addition to writing letters to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (which issued the guidelines) and the entities mentioned above, efforts included gathering petition signatures from university students, letters from and meetings held by progressive scientists, and work by other caring individuals as well as online outreach, celebrity involvement, media pressure, and demonstrations. And of course, the PETA Foundation's administrative, fundraising, and finance departments helped keep the campaign afloat.

Another key to this victory was a recent brainstorming session among government scientists and other researchers in which PETA India participated, making the point that animals are not required in order to train students. Indeed, as the ministry said in issuing the guidelines, "Nowadays effective alternatives in the form of CDs, computer simulations, manikin/models, in vitro methods, etc are available and they are not only effective and absolute replacements to the use of animals in teaching anatomy/physiology but they are also superior pedagogic tools in the teaching of pharmacy/life sciences."

How You Can Help Animals in University Laboratories

Countless animals continue to suffer and die in laboratories at U.S. colleges and universities—please take action to persuade the U.S. to follow India's compassionate and forward-thinking example.

'Tis the season of peace and goodwill, and students and teachers across the country are extending both to animals who would have been killed and dissected for crude biology lessons.

All too often, PETA receives complaints from compassionate middle school, high school, and college students who are faced with the daunting dilemma of whether to mutilate a dead frog, rat, or cat or receive a failing grade for standing up for animals. When we hear from these students, we quickly spring into action and contact faculty and administrators to urge them to respect the students' wishes by providing them with modern non-animal learning methods and asking them to cut out dissection altogether. 

Photo: Robert Sebree; Makeup: Chantal Moore for The Cloutier Agency

One of the ways in which PETA facilitates schools' transition to humane science teaching tools is through our TeachKind educational grant program. Teachers can apply to receive free computers, software, and models to replace animal dissection in their classrooms. Not only do these modern and effective teaching tools save animals' lives, they also help create a positive learning environment that does not exclude students because of their moral beliefs.

The following are just a few of PETA's recent successes for students and animals:

• After a high school student in Washington complained to PETA that the school was requiring students to dissect cats, we convinced school officials to drop dissection and use humane alternatives instead.
• A middle school teacher in Chattanooga, Tennessee, wanted to replace animals with a virtual dissection laboratory. PETA is making this dream a reality by donating the appropriate software to the school.
• PETA also donated software for a virtual dissection lab at a grade school in Woodlawn, Illinois, and to a middle school in Frankenmuth, Michigan, that wanted to replace frog and earthworm dissections.
• An elementary school student in Indiana contacted PETA when her teacher instructed students to capture insects, freeze them to death, and pin them to boards. Working with school officials, we got the cruel assignment nixed.

To learn how to get modern non-animal science teaching tools for your school or to help fund these lifesaving donations, visit TeachKind.org.