Economics of Dissection and Alternatives

• The cost of dissection includes the cost of the animals, lab supplies, dissecting tools, chemical preservatives, refrigerators, instructors and the disposal of hazardous materials (Marr, 2001).
• A study of Melbourne secondary schools found that the number one constraint on schools for having dissections in the curriculum was financial and cost played a major role in limiting the number of dissections performed annually (Smith, 1994).
• Alternatives can prove to be very cost-effective, especially in the long run.
• A single fetal pig can sell for $23.74 whereas a fetal pig simulation CD Rom costs $18.30 (Balcombe, 2000).
• A cost analysis of cat dissections shows the total cost of dissection for a classroom of a set amount of students to be between $4991 and $8326 and the total cost of a computer alternative to be $1865 (Balcombe, 2000).
• A similar analysis of frog dissection costs shows the dissection to cost between $2575 and $3288 compared to a total alternative cost of $2818 (Balcombe, 2000).
• Animal advocacy groups such as the United States Humane Society and the Ethical Science Education Coalition sometimes buy alternative software and loan or donate it out to schools to promote ethical biological education. As animal advocates increase the publicity of alternatives and speak out for student choice legislation, the market for computer software increases (Balcombe, 1997; Fleischmann, 2003).

Regulations and Policies

• Student Choice:  is defined as the “right of students to have access without penalty to alternative learning methods, models, and approaches that do not involve the caging and confinement, manipulation, or death of an animal” (Cunningham, 2001, pg. 192)
• Students with ethical, religious, or other objections to animal dissection should be provided with the option to refrain from dissection as this does not affect the learning of other students or the freedom of the teacher.
• Only a few school board policies protect the rights of choice for students in Canada. In Vancouver, Ontario, and South Shore, Nova Scotia, school boards have policies entitling primary and secondary school students the right to an alternative when in opposition to a dissection.
• Student choice legislation is more prevalent in other countries and in the United States, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, and Maine all have laws protecting student choice (Fleischmann, 2003)
• Other countries with restrictions on dissection include 14 EU nations, India, Argentina, Slovakia, and Israel.

• Animal Welfare: Guidelines for the welfare of animals in science in Canada are created and regulated by the Canadian Council on Animal Care. http://www.ccac.ca/
• These guidelines regulate the procurement, euthanasia, and housing of animals used for scientific purposes in educational institutions.
• The CCAC also promotes the use of the 3 R’s: Reduction, Refinement, and Replacement.