Students, as well as animals, can experience damaging emotional and cognitive effects when forced to perform dissections in schools. Some possible negative impacts felt by students include:

• Fear of rejection or punishment from teachers if students refuse to dissect.
• Fear of embarrassment or social stigmatization from peers if student refuse to dissect.
• Becoming emotionally insensitive to the use of animals in science.
• Regarding animals as expendable tools. (Cunningham, 2000).

Other problems with dissection:

• Destructive nature of the procedure can damage tissues or organs meant to be studies in a dissection. (Balcombe, 2001)
• Animals bred and raised for the lab may not fully represent nature (Cunningham, 2000).
• Preservatives and harsh chemicals turn animals rubbery, discolored, and foul smelling (Balcombe, 1997).
• Formaldehyde used as a preservative can cause irritation to the upper respiratory tract, nose, and skin (Balcombe, 2000).
• Student learning can be compromised by feelings of disgust or revulsion.
• Most undergraduate biology students will not go on to careers using practical dissection skills (Downie and Meadows, 1995).