Dear PCRM member:

Thank you so much for your support. As a Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine member, Dr. Neal Barnard is hoping you will take the time to show support for Michigan students. Please contact your education committee members and ask them to support House Bill 6221.

This important bill will guarantee humane alternatives for Michigan students with ethical objections to animal dissection. Since none of the medical schools in Michigan use animal laboratories to train future physicians, primary school students should also be guaranteed access to humane science education.

While some educators have hoped that dissection exercises would interest students in science, it often has the opposite effect. Many students are naturally concerned about the well being of animals, and dissection may discourage them from pursuing science careers. Dissection has also taken a heavy toll on natural environments and the animals who live there, aggravating the damage already caused by human population growth and industrial expansion. Finally, alternatives to dissection, using modern computer programs or anatomical models, can cost thousands of dollars less than animal specimens, last for years, and do not need to be re-ordered for each incoming class. For more information, please see www.DissectionAlternatives.org.

HB 6221 was introduced by Representative Alexander Lipsey and is now ready to go before the education committee. Please contact the committee members now to tell them you want to ensure this bill is passed out of committee and to the House floor. This bill will help students who want to pursue biological sciences without the fear of being forced into dissection.

www.pcrm.org, www.dissectionalternatives.org