Programs & Campaigns

Activists Protest Massachusetts Teachers Association

(Boston, MA) Sept. 8, 2003 - Beginning September 8, activists will maintain a daily lunch hour presence outside the Massachusetts Teachers Association's (MTA) headquarters at 20 Ashburton Place in Boston.

Organized by the Ethical Science and Education Coalition (ESEC), this protest will draw attention to the MTA's opposition to Massachusetts House Bill 1252, An Act Relative to Dissection Choice.

Introduced by Representative Louis Kafka (D-Sharon), H.1252 will protect students from academic penalty if their religious or ethical beliefs require alternatives to animal dissection.
From September 8 until the day of the bill's hearing at the State House, activists will inform the public about MTA's continuing opposition to granting students the legally protected right to choose humane alternatives to traditional specimen dissection.

The MTA's interference in lobbying against H.1252 has kept passage of this bill at bay for years, despite compelling evidence that many MA teachers support such legislation. Says ESEC president Dr. Theo Capaldo, "A recent Tufts University (2001) study shows that a nearly two-thirds or 64% of Massachusetts life science teachers support a dissection choice bill."

In addition, Capaldo points out, "The Tufts study indicates that 20-25% of MA teachers admit that they refuse students of conscience alternatives. At previous legislative hearings, former and current students, often in tears, have testified in front of the Massachusetts legislature and the MTA about forced dissections, thwarted science careers, and academic failure. It's incomprehensible that the MTA continues to be against this reasonable bill."

Comparative studies show that students using alternatives learn as well as, if not better than students doing traditional animal dissection. All alternatives are reusable, many are available free from the Internet and loan libraries, and none require costly hazardous waste disposal, making alternatives not only educationally sounds, but also environmentally and fiscally responsible -- as well as humane.

Adds Capaldo, "ESEC's presence at the MTA headquarters will inform the general public that the MTA's opposition to the protection of a student's right to choose humane alternatives is outdated, unsubstantiated and not reflective of popular - or even their own members'- opinion. The daily presence is a wake-up call to those few lobbyists for MTA who are sorely out-of-touch with 2003 science education and the absolute necessity to respect compassionate students."

For copies of H.1252 or more information or to arrange for an interview/article, contact the ESEC office at (617) 523-6020 or visit the ESEC website at www.neavs.org/esec

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