Students, some faculty members and others are currently creating a worldwide revolution against the harmful use of animals in education. I created this site to make available the resources I collected to others who might need them.
It is an unfortunate fact that life and health sciences education has traditionally involved the harmful use of animals. Many millions of animals have lost their lives in attempts to teach practical skills and demonstrate scientific principles which have, in most cases, been established for decades.
However, many thousands of humane educational alternatives are now
catalogued in databases, covering every educational level and academic
discipline. These include computer simulations, videos, plasticised
specimens, ethically-sourced cadavers (obtained from animals that have been
euthanized for medical reasons, or that have died naturally or in
accidents), models, diagrams, non-invasive self-experimentation and
supervised clinical experiences.
At least 33 papers sourced from the biomedical and educational literature,
covering all educational levels and disciplines, have described studies
comparing the ability of humane alternatives to impart knowledge or clinical
or surgical skills. 39.4% (13/33) demonstrated that alternative students
achieved superior learning outcomes, or achieved equivalent results more
quickly, allowing time for additional learning. 51.5% (17/33) demonstrated
equivalent educational efficacy, and only 9.1% (3/33) demonstrated inferior
educational efficacy of humane alternatives. The design of one of the latter
studies has been substantially criticised. Yet the harmful use of animals in
biomedical education persists.
This site provides resources to guide and assist students who wish to
conscientiously object to harmful animal use in their education, including:
It is my hope that these resources may assist others to successfully introduce humane alternatives to harmful animal use in their own universities and schools, as my colleagues and I have done at various universities internationally.
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