INTERNICHE HUMANE EDUCATION AWARD INVESTS IN NEW ALTERNATIVES WORLDWIDE
Proefdiervrij, Netherlands
July 3 2006
Eight exciting projects submitted to the InterNICHE Humane Education
Award have now been chosen for their positive pedagogical and ethical
impact on life science education.
The Award is an international grant program to support initiatives
that can enhance veterinary, medical and biological science education
by replacing harmful animal use with progressive alternative methods.
Sponsored by Dutch anti-vivisection organisation Proefdiervrij, 20,000
Euro will now be shared between the following successful applicants
to support their innovative projects:
* Dr. Fawzy Elnady from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Cairo
University in Egypt, who will create the world’s first camel anatomy
software to enhance veterinary teaching and replace the killing of
camels in north African, Middle Eastern and central Asian countries.
In keeping with the InterNICHE Policy (1), the software will be created
using the cadaver of a camel that has died naturally or been euthanised
secondary to serious non-recoverable injury or terminal illness. 1000
copies of the Arabic/English software will be distributed. The new
learning tool will also be freeware, thereby optimising the potential
for widespread replacement.
* Dr Dmitriy Slyusarenko from the Zooveterinary Institute in Kharkiv,
Ukraine, whose project will directly replace surgery labs on live
animals with an innovative cadaver-based alternative. Instead of
catching and practicing on healthy stray dogs and cats which are
then either killed or released with injuries, ethically sourced
animal cadavers and Aboud’s Method (2) of perfusing cadavers for
‘live’ surgery practice will be implemented. Students will be offered
fully ethical learning opportunities that provide a greater degree
of freedom to achieve genuine mastery in surgical training through
repeated and highly realistic practice. Syrian neurosurgeon Dr Emad
Aboud will advise on the establishment of the model.
* Dr Armen Vardapetyan from Yerevan State University in Armenia,
who will implement software alternatives and new hardware to achieve
replacement in zoology practical classes and establish a multimedia
learning environment. The project will begin with frog anatomy
alternatives but it is envisaged that the curricular transformation
will lead to full replacement of all vertebrate use. This modernisation
of the curriculum and teaching process locally will be complemented
by promotion of alternatives and sharing of experience at other
universities and ethics committees nationally.
* Dr Lili Duda from the University of Pennsylvania in the USA,
who will expand the existing but small-scale body donation program
(Educational Memorial Program) for ethically sourced cadavers at the
School of Veterinary Medicine. The expanded program will provide an
alternative track in surgery practical classes for conscientiously
objecting students. An investigation into better preservation and
storage techniques, and distribution of informational brochures
to educate clients of the teaching hospital and the wider faculty,
will also be undertaken.
* Dr. Julia Maria Matera from the College of Veterinary Medicine at
the University of São Paulo in Brazil, who will investigate techniques
for improving the preservation of cadavers used for surgery practice,
with a special focus on tropical climates and chemical preservation
of abdominal organs. The animal cadavers used in the project will
be ethically sourced, as defined by the InterNICHE Policy (1),
using a body donation program already established in the teaching
hospital. Replacement of live animal use already achieved has been well
received by students and has provided a better learning environment
for surgical skills acquisition.
* Dr Gabriel Cotor from the Veterinary Faculty in Bucuresti, Romania,
who will introduce student self-experimentation using the advanced
Biopac Student Lab. Following widespread replacement with software
and a multimedia lab in recent years, the new apparatus will replace
the majority of remaining invasive experiments within physiology
teaching. A wide range of practicals are possible with the computer-
linked apparatus, which has strong advantages over the animal labs
for illustrating physiological principles.
* Dr Marta Saloña-Bordas from Department of Zoology & Animal
Cell Biology at the University of the Basque Country, who will
develop a free-access on-line invertebrate anatomy resource in
Spanish for replacement of zoology practical classes that use killed
invertebrates. The project will dovetail with existing efforts for e-
learning and for reduction of harmful animal use. The sourcing of the
invertebrates will also be in keeping with the InterNICHE Policy,
and will provide a humane alternative for students and teachers
concerned about wild collection of invertebrates and maintaining the
ecological balance.
* Dr Aleksander Ivanc from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and
Mathematics at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina, who
will introduce a range of physiology video and software alternatives
to provide new tools for practical classes. Translation on paper
will facilitate effective implementation of the alternatives, and
appropriate testing and assessment of student performance with the new
methods will also be undertaken. The project will replace the annual
use of over 500 frogs, rats and snails, a significant reduction of
harmful animal use.
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