Animal dissections originated over 5000 years ago as part of humanity’s early pursuit of scientific discoveries. Now, students get insight into the dissection process beginning in elementary schools. I remember being intrigued by finding a shrew skeleton in an owl pellet in fifth grade. However, as I’ve gained more ethical and environmental awareness, I believe that animal dissections should end at WHS. With the ongoing development of technological alternatives that provide similar experiences, there is no need to kill animals for a high school experiment.
Over the years, synthetic alternatives—such as the 3D model, SynFrog—have become more accurate, making the switch from using real frogs for dissection easier.
“It was definitely a good learning experience to use a real frog, but since it sounds like the synthetic frog is very realistic, I think students would still be able to get a lot out of the lab,” junior Whitney Summersgill said. “Also, given the fact that they can be reused year after year, the school would be able to save money while also being more humane.”
While the cost of dissections using SynFrog would initially be higher than real frog dissections, that expense will decrease over time since it is a reusable, synthetic alternative.
“I think synthetic frogs are a great option to reduce the cost of frog purchases at WHS. I found the frog dissection lab fun, but I felt bad after that because the school had to purchase so many frogs and we would just throw them in the trash,” junior Alessandra Gavris said. “It also made me sad that we were dissecting dead frogs. Because the [synthetic] frogs are reusable, you can save money and frogs’ lives.”
Some animal dissection companies raise organisms for the sole purpose of the 30-minute dissection, which is a cruel way to treat an organism’s life, making it even more pertinent to end animal dissections.
“I think it’s fine if [the dissection] is using the entire animal,” senior Knox Karklina said. “I think it’s unethical to grow an animal specifically so that it can be dissected, but I think [the synthetic alternative] is great for the frogs because we have no reason to grow those frogs other than dissections.”
The chemical safety of real dissections is also a concern, since students are exposed to formaldehyde, which is a human carcinogen.
“I think about all of the tissue that we have to throw away in a safe way, but can also probably contaminate. The preservatives we use can get into waterways,” biology teacher Christine Chiodo said. “So I think [3d models] would be a really great alternative.”
Although ending animal dissections completely may be hard to achieve in one attempt, reducing the number of animal dissections is still a beneficial action.
“Maybe WHS can push for a more humane way to dissect frogs. Maybe they can have one frog to dissect per class, drastically reducing the amount of frogs dissected,” sophomore and Animal Care Club member Austin Marill said. “However, many other schools buy these frogs, so the only way to push a real change is to have the schools band together. Maybe they can push a petition to have the [dissection] company also give money to support endangered frog habitats.”
The experience of exploring the physiology of individual animals can be a convincing reason for some to continue animal dissections.
“I think hands-on dissection does still play a role in being able to identify and more accurately see where components are inside of organisms,” biology teacher Mary Liu said. “There is still not the same kind of replacement for the experience because each individual organism is unique. Things can often be in different places, you can be surprised by either individual differences or the life experience of that particular organism.”
One way to ensure students have the chance for such surprises would be to demonstrate one real frog dissection while students work with the synthetic frogs in class. This would also allow those who object to animal dissection to have the experience, something that simply wasn’t possible in the past..
“When I was in middle school, we didn’t have an option about dissection. We did fetal pig dissection in seventh grade, and I refused to do it. And my teacher failed me,” Animal Care Club advisor Lizzie Riemer said. “I’m grateful that now there’s more sensitivity toward students who might not want to participate and also that there are such good options for alternatives that can be used.”
WHS should begin the process of incorporating synthetic dissections as soon as possible. Applying for a $1,500 grant or finding that money in the school budget would supply 10 synthetic frogs for next year, enough for one class, since two people share one frog. Over four years, there would be enough to supply the biology classes forever, drastically lowering the overall cost. By taking these steps, moving from real animal dissections towards synthetic alternatives is an easy switch that will create a positive impact on our school and world.