Humane Education: Technology now Saving Lab Animals

There is really no good reason why animals should be killed for dissections and used in experiments for education and training purposes while modern and innovative methods without the use of animals exist, and have become the norm at many universities. Africa Network for Animal Welfare was in September 2009 privileged to host the groundbreaking initiative to promote and implement such replacement alternatives to the use of animals across Africa.

Co-organized by ANAW and the International Network for Humane Education-InterNICHE, the 2-day Alternatives Seminar brought together 22 campaigning organizations from 11 African countries, InterNICHE experts from England, Mexico, India and Egypt, and over 100 Kenyan teachers, surgeons and government officials.

Published studies have shown that knowledge, skills and ethical awareness can be gained more effectively using progressive and alternative methods. It is also tried and proven that students learn even better when apprenticing to qualified colleagues and using animal patients. For instance when veterinary students assist experienced colleagues in clinical work with real animal patients, they learn a broad range of clinical skills, including care for patients and respect for life – in contrast to animal experiments which teach them that animals are disposable tools
When biology students study animals in their natural habitats with non-invasive methods, they learn far more about animal behavior than an animal experiment in the laboratory would teach them. And paralleling the dissections done by human medical students on donated human bodies, veterinary and biology students can perform ethical dissections on animals that have died from illness or injury.
Many such seminars, conferences and training events on ethical education and methods that are more efficient to teaching objectives have been successfully held in Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, India, Mexico and Peru among other locations around the world by InterNICHE in collaboration with universities, partner organizations and networks.
InterNICHE- an open and diverse network comprising students, teachers and animal campaigners focuses on animal use and alternatives within biological science, medical and veterinary education. Following demonstrations and hands-on experience of alternatives at the Alternatives Seminar, participants received resources, including freeware and other low-cost or no-cost alternatives whose impact can now be measured globally.
Addressing seminar participants, ANAW Director Josphat Ngonyo said: “We intend that the Alternatives Seminar will empower participants to be ambassadors for alternatives in their own countries. InterNICHE will provide the information, resources and support to achieve this. The impact on Kenya will be considerable, particularly now with government support for humane approaches and innovative technology in education and training.”
InterNICHE coordinator Nick Jukes added, “We applaud the Kenyan government’s interest in humane education and are confident in the pedagogical, ethical and economic advantages of replacement alternatives. We hope that other countries will follow Kenya’s lead, and that the Alternatives Seminar will play a role in facilitating the process of change right across the continent.”
India’s foremost campaigner for alternatives, Snehal Bhavsar, described her strategies for catalyzing curricular change across the state of Gujarat in India, including her success in achieving 80% reduction of animal use in education.
Sofia Ponce, a Mexican participant and facilitator presented the vision and activities of the Center for Animal Alternatives in Education (CAAE) program at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico while Fawzy Elnady from the University of Cairo in Egypt addressed the aspect of information and communications technology in relation to alternatives, with a global and African overview.
Further presentations included the rationale for seeing caring as an essential clinical skill which must be placed at the heart of veterinary and medical training; the use of the POP-trainer for live laparoscopic surgical training without animal experiments; and the use of the Biopac Student Lab for self-experimentation as an alternative in physiology practical classes.