UGC bans dissection in all colleges

In a new notification, the apex body has asked colleges and universities to stop dissection and experimentation on animals for life sciences courses.

CHENNAI: After dithering for years, the University Grants Commission has finally buckled under pressure from activists to ban dissection of animals for academic purposes at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels on college campuses.

In a new notification, the apex body has asked colleges and universities to stop dissection and experimentation on animals for life sciences courses. "No animal from any species shall be dissected, either by teachers or students for any purpose," read the notification.

The UGC's decision is an improvement on the partial ban on dissection it issued in 2011. "Those were just guidelines, which had several loopholes," said Dr Chaitanya Koduri, science policy advisor for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), India. Peta had taken part in the UGC deliberations pushing for a ban. "In the previous guidelines, teachers were allowed to dissect as students watched, while post-graduate students were allowed to dissect unprotected species," he said.

The move comes after UGC observed that many of the animals used for dissection were caught from their natural habitats. "Their indiscriminate removal disrupts the biodiversity and ecological balance," it said, citing the "alarming" decline of the population of various species of frogs.

Observing that various laws and regulations about animal welfare are not observed while prescribing animal use in curriculum, the body has directed colleges to revamp their curriculum to accommodate alternatives to dissection, like using models, charts and simulation.

While some academicians feel that technology can never be a substitute to cut through tissues to feel the texture of the viscera, many feel that methodology is archaic. "The point is for students to understand the concept. That can be done by taking them out on field trips instead of keeping them cloistered in a classroom," said professor M A Akbarsha, director of Mahatma Gandhi-Doerenkamp Centre (MGDC) for alternative use of animals in Life Science Education, Bharatidasan University, Trichy. He said dissection was introduced in colleges in India in the early 1920s. "While Britain, which initiated live dissection in the country, has introduced several measures to restrict experimentation on animals, we continue to kill them," he said.

UGC has also called for including animal ethics as a chapter in appropriate courses of study in order to sensitise students. Teachers say using alternative digital methods to teach have an edge over live dissection in more ways than one. "It is not easy to explore the anatomy of smaller species during live dissection. There are several good digital alternatives which provide scope to prod and examine all organs. Besides, there is also ample space to repeat the exercise," said M C Sathyanarayana, retired assistant professor of AVC college, Mayiladuthurai. He said finding animals was also getting increasingly difficult. "As a result, many of them are procured illegally," said Sathyanarayana, who has been fighting against animal dissection for years.

The UGC has also directed all institutions of higher education to constitute dissection monitoring committees to ensure strict compliance of instructions relating to the use of animals for research. It has also asked institutions to maintain appropriate records of procurement, their transport and use of anesthesia.

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