Jukes N and Martinsen S. Introduction, Principles and Practice. Paper presented at: Alternatives in the Mainstream: Innovations in Life Science Education and Training. 2nd InterNICHE Conference; 2005 May 12-15; Oslo, Norway


Abstract

Humane education brings together human rights and animal rights, and helps ensure the creation of skilled and sensitive scientists for the future. Many students across the world conscientiously object to the harmful use of animals in education, and the movement for humane education is growing in momentum. There is no reason why animals should be killed for dissections and experiments in education. Modern and innovative methods without the harmful use of animals exist in plenty, and are becoming the norm at many universities. Ethical education without the use of laboratory animals includes methods that are more efficient and more relevant to the teaching objectives: Advanced computer technology offers numerous possibilities, from virtual dissections or a whole laboratory set-up onscreen, to full virtual reality simulations of clinical techniques. Modern training aids for surgery practice are highly realistic and include microsurgery models and artificial organs and fluids. Other methods are based on self-experimentation on volunteer students, such as nerve/muscle stimulation using computers linked to the experimental apparatus.

Ethical education may also involve animals: When veterinary students assist experienced co leagues in their clinical work with real patients, they learn both clinical skills and caring for patients at the same time - 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 more about animal behaviour than an animal experiment in the laboratorywould teach them. And paralleling the dissections done by medical students on donated human bodies, veterinary and biology students can perform ethical dissections on animals that have died from illness or injury. The use of killed animals and animal experiments will not teach students more about a subject than the ethical methods are capable of. However, the animal experiments are alone in imposing on you an attitude that animals’ lives are not important. Do we really want a society with veterinarians, researchers and doctors who have been taught that living beings can be used and thrown away? InterNICHE and NOAH believes that students should gain both knowledge and an ethical awareness from their education. This conference will show the many ways in which this can be achieved, and will make a strong case for why this is important.