News Conference and ‘Lunch And Learn’ to Support AB 1586 Ahead of Vote
PETA Scientists Meet with Lawmakers and Educators to Modernize School Learning and End Animal Dissection
For Immediate Release:
April 24, 2019
Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
On Thursday, PETA will host a news conference followed by a “lunch and learn” session at the California State Capitol building in Sacramento about Assembly Bill 1586, the Replacing Animals in Science Education (RAISE) Act, which has a hearing and a vote in the Assembly Education Committee on May 1. If enacted, the bill would replace animal dissection in California classrooms with effective, ethical, and economical non-animal teaching tools. The “lunch and learn” will include scientists, educators, and representatives from simulation companies who will invite lawmakers to try out modern, hands-on replacements for rats and frogs—such as virtual reality technology, award-winning apps, and synthetic animals.
When: Thursday, April 25, 9:30 a.m
Where: California State Capitol building, Rm. 317, 1315 10th St. (at the intersection with L Street), Sacramento
“Forcing students to cut up dead animals whose bodies are preserved in toxic formaldehyde solutions is an unsafe, archaic, and objectionable lesson that has no place in the modern classroom,” says PETA Director Rachelle Owen. “PETA joins teachers and students in supporting the RAISE Act and looks forward to seeing California schools use only superior, technology-based teaching tools.”
Every year, more than 10 million animals are dissected in classrooms. Many of them come from biological-specimen supply companies or the wild (where frogs are captured, which wreaks havoc on local ecosystems). And studies have repeatedly shown that virtual dissection is as good as—if not better than—cutting up dead animals for teaching biology.
The bill has been introduced by California Assembly Member Ash Kalra (D–San Jose) and is cosponsored by PETA, Social Compassion in Legislation, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. It’s also supported by the National Hispanic Medical Association—which represents approximately 50,000 Hispanic physicians nationwide—the United Federation of Teachers’ Humane Education Committee, the Humane Education Coalition, and California’s Center for Healthcare Education.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
