India’S University Grants Commission Bans Dissection In All Zoology And Life-Sciences, Postgraduate Courses

For Immediate Release:

7 August 2014

Contact:

Ben Williamson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

Compassionate Action Follows Pressure From PETA India and Minister Maneka Gandhi

London – A new notification by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India is set to save the lives of an estimated 19 million animals every year. That’s because following discussions with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and Minister Maneka Gandhi, the commission issued a notification for universities and colleges across the country directing them to stop dissection and experimentation (for training purposes) for university and college zoology and life-sciences undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The UGC’s decision is an improvement on the partial ban on dissection that it had issued in 2011. The UGC is the apex regulatory body for higher education in India. A copy of the notification is available upon request.

“By issuing a notification to eliminate animal dissection and experimentation for training purposes, the University Grants Commission will be helping to modernise science education across India and save lives”, says PETA UK Associate Director Mimi Bekhechi. “It also means students in India will never again be forced to choose between enrolling in science courses and staying true to their moral beliefs against cruelty to animals.”

The UK is shamefully going in the opposite direction with the OCR exam board’s recent announcement that school pupils will be expected to dissect organs such as animal hearts for the first time in 30 years as part of compulsory A-level science experiments.

Every year, millions of animals – including cats, frogs, rats, mice and foetal pigs – are dissected in schools and universities, even though studies on science education have repeatedly shown that non-animal methods, including computer simulations, interactive CD-ROMs, films, charts and life-like models, teach anatomy and complex biological processes as well as and often better than cruel, archaic animal laboratories.

For more information about cruel and wasteful animal experiments, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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