Dear Editor,

As a student dedicated to respecting all life, I will not slice into, cut apart or kill, in short, dissect any animal, for any reason. These procedures amount to nothing more than classroom curiosity, and further, dissection is not a requirement of science curriculum in several states, including California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Louisiana (with Illinois and New Hampshire to follow soon), for several convincing reasons.

Dissection kits, typically containing fish, frogs, pigs, cats, mice, birds, rabbits and dogs, come from biological supply house that obtain animals through questionable means, including poaching and pet theft. Undercover investigations have revealed untold numbers of animals inhumanely transported, kept in filthy, overcrowded cages without food or water, inadequatelly gassed, embalmed while still alive, and left to suffer a slow and painful death.

Besides raising major ethical concerns, dissection kits introduce toxic formaldehyde and other chemicals into the environment in large doses, not to mention the health threat they pose to students handling these toxins. Additionally, dissection kits are costly and usable only once. On the other hand, technical science illustrations, computer software programs, plastic models and clinical observation, provide reusable accurate, cost-effective and humane means to study the anatomy and physiology of many animals. Not all schools can afford an annual budget for expensive dissection kits, but every school can afford the one- time cost of permanent, alternative models for dissection.

Finally, dissection desensitizes. It is impossible to condone killing an animal for the sake of a science class and at the same time still believe that life is sacred.

Dissection teaches superiority: I will cut apart an animal because I can.

It teaches selfishness: I will repeat another unnecessary and useless dissection, already performed for decades by millions of students before me.

It teaches poor ethics and condones cruelty: I accept that this animal may be a stolen companion animal, and that he or she most likely suffered severe trauma before dying.

The very act of dissection and the companies that support it are defined by carelessness, deception and cruelty. How can anything scientific come from such an unscientific foundation?

For the animals who die in silence and the students who suffer in silence, I ask that our school district ban dissection as a science curriculum requirement.

Sincerely,

Name

Address, Tel. No. (Not for publication)