New Hampshire Becomes 17th State to Let Kids Opt Out of Dissection

Dissection has long been a part of school curriculum and has been touted as one of the best ways to teach students about biology and anatomy. Yet, according to PETA, the nearly 10 million animals used in classroom settings each year often “come from biological supply houses, which breed some animals (often in cruel and filthy conditions) and obtain others from animal shelters or capture them from their families in the wild.”

As we learn more about the emotional lives of animals, the world seems to be realizing that perhaps there is a better way to treat and learn from these intelligent beings.

In an effort to provide students with an alternative to dissection, the New Hampshire State Board of Education has just adopted a dissection-choice policy, which will allow students in grades K through 12 to pick “modern teaching methods, such as interactive digital dissection” over conventional dissection methods, PETA reports.

As the 17^th state to allow students to opt out of dissection, New Hampshire’s move marks a budding trend in the U.S. New Hampshire now joins the states of California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia along with Washington D.C. in adopting such a policy.

In addition to this new dissection policy, New Hampshire has also given students the right to choose not to conduct tests on animals.

“While this isn’t nearly as common in K-12 classes as dissection is, it’s commendable that the state recognized that animal testing may also ‘cause ethical conflicts for students due to potential harm or death to animals’ and mandated that students not be forced to participate,” PETA writes in a recent blog post.

With New Hampshire now added to a growing list of states offering dissection alternatives to students, there is hope that one day the estimated 10 million animals used in classroom dissection may shrink to zero.

For information about human dissection alternatives, check out Animalearn.

Image source: albertstraub / Flickr