ESEC Responds Letters to the Editors Student Choice Applauded from Boston ESEC supports Kelowna students' efforts to pass a student choice policy, which would allow conscientious objectors to use a humane alternative to animal dissection or vivisection exercises. More >           USA Today Depicts Animal Advocates as "Lunatic Science-Hating Fringe" The editorial (Beastly behavior, 12/9/99) and Tim Friend’s report (Violence escalates over animal research, 12/8/99) and countless other media coverage portray animal researchers as dedicated heroes, while depicting animal advocates as the lunatic science-hating fringe who care more about rats, chickens and dogs than about their "own kind." Such reports are inflammatory and over-simplified. More >         Suffocation of Rabbit by School Science Teacher Under the Guise of 'Education' While "getting away with murder" is sadly becoming a no surprise result of the judicial system, we cannot ever let such verdicts go without comment. Godwin Collins Onunwah’s suffocation of an innocent rabbit under the guise of "education" for his dissection class should have been deemed an act of malicious cruelty and severely punished by our courts. More >         Toledo Blade Editorial Misses the Point on Dissection Classroom dissection is often hailed as promoting a real "life lesson" in learning about animals in preparation for a scientific or medical career. In reality, students who cut up embalmed, chemical-laden specimens of formerly living, feeling frogs, cats and other animals are only learning lessons in animal cruelty and disrespect for life. More >         Seattle Post-Intelligencer's "Contributed Essays" Contribute Little to Informing Public of Animal Experimentation Installment #1 of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s five-part series of "contributed essays" contributes little to informing the trusting and hopeful public of the hazards of applying the results of animal experimentation to humans. Of course, since the articles are written solely by "men and women who work in the field [of animal experimentation]" – including the President of the Washington Association for Biomedical Research – it would be strange indeed if any of your paper’s "contributors" detailed any hazards and harm caused by their life’s work. More >>         Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Reports the "Debate Over Dissection" Congratulations on reporter Matthew Daneman’s fine article ("Debate over dissection," March 10, 2001). The mandatory use of animals in education – from dead animal dissection to live animal experimentation – is one of the most earnestly debated issues in contemporary education. More >         Texas Student's Letter to Amarillo Globe-News Prompts ESEC Response: "Dissecting Animals is NOT a Great Experience" It is ironic that the Dimmitt High School student’s letter "Keep education on a fun level " (12/30/99 Letters to the Editor) began with a wonderful idea ("Maybe teachers can try new methods of teaching students in a way that is educational, yet fun.") but ended with the outdated and appalling notion that dissecting animals in science class is a great hands-on learning experience. More >         ESEC's Goal to Replace Outmoded Thinking in School Libraries Your front page article, "On borrowed time, school libraries stacked with outdated books" (Boston Globe, 1/18/00) was eye-opening and dismaying. Media specialist Barbara Camann was absolutely correct when she observed, "If the kids aren’t readers, they can’t be writers. And if they’re not writers, they can’t be thinkers." Clearly, students without adequate educational resources are in no position to learn that there are many ways to solve problems, plan for the future, and be involved, informed citizens and employees. More >         ESEC Responds to The Charlotte Observer Pandora's box is about to be opened with scientists genetically modifying pigs to be organ donors for humans. Daniel Q. Haney’s article, "Perfecting organs of pigs for people" (8-9-01) missed the magnitude of harm that xenotransplantation--transplanting parts of one species into another--potentially bodes for humankind. More >         ESEC Commends The Berkshire Eagle Many students, teachers, and parents are also aware of the perilous situations for amphibians around the world. Students who have developed this sensitivity to the depletion of our natural resources often choose not to participate in specimen dissection in their science classes. Frogs, for example, and various other species used in dissection labs are wild-caught. Students recognize that the dissection industry’s wild-harvesting practices place an unnecessary burden on an already at risk population. More >