PETA Global 2019 Issue 3

No Need for Goats to Die for a Sweater C ashmere sweaters, scarves, jackets,

CUTTING DISSECTION OUT OF THE CURRICULUM By Ingrid Newkirk

Frog: © iStock.com/Hans Dieter Schmitz

Badger: © iStock.com/DamianKuzdak • Torn paper: © iStock.com/yasinguneysu

and other garments, made from the soft undercoats of cashmere goats, often have expensive price tags, but as with other animal-derived fashions, the goats are the ones who pay the price – with their very lives.

I have a dirty little secret: I was assigned to chloroform the mice for a school dissection lesson, and even though I found it disturbing, I did it anyway. That was 60 years ago, when the Earthwas still cooling down and no one dared talk back to the teacher for fear of being smacked. Dissection desensitizes students, by sending the harmful message that living beings are nothing more than disposable tools. But times have changed, so what are we doing still pretending it’s OK for “life science” to spell death for animals? How come millions of frogs, mice, rats, rabbits, fish, and other living beings are still snatched from their homes in nature or purposely bred every year so that students can take scissors to them or pull out and dangle their beating hearts in each other’s faces? PETA took a hard look at school dissection and found information that would have been shocking when I was a child – and is beyond shameful now. PETA managed to get a hidden video camera into a major dissection supplier’s warehouse, where staff joked about watching frozen turtles “come back to life” and then refreezing them. The workers were also caught on tape drowning crates of frightened pigeons in a tank full of water so that their bodies could be sold to schools. On the Cutting Edge Kids don’t dissect animals anymore in Argentina, Israel, the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic, or Switzerland, among other places. Schools in the UK and Australia don’t require students under 18 to cut up dead animals, but many teachers still ask them to. Many US states have laws allowing students to opt out of dissection, but with animals’ lives on the line, that isn’t enough. It’s a No-Brainer: Computers Eclipse Cadavers Obviously, non-animal teaching methods, such as three-dimensional computer simulations, spare animals tremendous suffering and death, but they have also been shown to be as effective as – and often more effective than – cutting up dead animals. Studies show PETA is determined to relegate dissection to the dustbin of history. Here’s how.

Take Action Now Help PETA relegate dissection to the dustbin of history.

that students prefer using humane methods and that dissecting animals deters some of them – especially young women – from entering science-related fields. We can’t have that! There’s Carcinogens in Them Thar Bones Dissection exposes students and educators to harmful chemicals, including formaldehyde – a preservative classified as a human carcinogen. Repeated exposure to even low levels of this chemical can cause respiratory difficulty, eczema, and skin sensitization. Simulation Is the New Gold Standard Simulation technology has replaced dissection as the best practice: No medical students in the US, Canada, or India participate in animal dissection as part of their curriculum. Primary schools must catch up.

• Students: Say no to dissection. PETA can help you work with your teacher to give you a non-animal lesson. E-mail Student@peta.org . • Parents: If your child’s school is using animals as teaching “tools,” voice your objections. Let your child’s teacher and principal know that your child will not be participating, and urge the school to replace animal dissection with superior, modern teaching tools. • Teachers: Please don’t use animals in your classroom. Browse TeachKind.org/Dissection for helpful information, free resources, and more. In the UK or Australia, please visit PETA.org.uk/CutOutDissection for an informational pack with interactive and practical activities and free resources.

PETA Asia eyewitnesses visited cashmere goat farms and slaughterhouses in China and Mongolia – the countries

Terrible for Goats and the Environment Cashmere also has a surprisingly large environmental footprint – it’s more than any other animal-derived fiber. That’s because goats have a voracious appetite and tend to eat a plant’s roots right along with the rest of it, killing it. As the number of goats raised for cashmere has soared across Mongolia, once-green pastures have been overgrazed to the point where only sand remains. Dust storms unleashed by this practice have sent plumes of pollution as far away as North America.

responsible for 90% of the world’s cashmere production – and found goats screaming in pain and fear as workers held them down, twisted their legs, and tore out

their hair with sharp metal combs. Goats who were cut during this process received

no pain relief or veterinary care whatsoever – and an eyewitness even saw one worker pour rice wine directly into a wound.

One more way to give frogs a leg up: Buy PETA's Frogsaver Lily Pad at PETA.org/Store .

Take Action Now After seeing PETA Asia’s exposé, H&M (the world’s second-largest clothing retailer),

A Cutthroat Business When the goats are no longer profitable, they endure a horrific death. At a slaughterhouse in China, workers hit goats in the head with a hammer. In Mongolia, they dragged them by one leg onto the slaughterhouse floor, slit their throats in full view of the others, and then left them to bleed out on the filthy kill floor. Some were still moving two minutes later. Their flesh is then sold as cheap meat.

Canada’s Le Chateau, and e-tailer ASOS banned cashmere. Visit PETA.org/CutCashmere to urge Madewell to follow suit.

Vegan cashmere, modeled by PETA friend Bryan Adams I

I “Advancements in educational technology have expanded access to this important scientific instructional methodology without having to rely on animals.” – California State Assembly Member Ash Kalra

Share PETA Asia’s video with others. Ask them to leave cashmere and other stolen goods on the racks and instead choose vegan options, such as linen, bamboo, Tencel, hemp, modal, viscose, cotton, and soy cashmere, a byproduct of the soy foods industry.

Badgers Saved From Being Made Into Brushes PETA Asia’s video exposé of China’s cruel badger-brush industry revealed that workers beat crying badgers over the head before slitting their throats. After PETA Australia showed the footage to Australian Pharmaceutical Industries, which owns health and beauty giants Priceline and Priceline Pharmacy, it stopped stocking any items containing badger hair. Kent Brushes, which has been around since 1777, followed suit after hearing from PETA UK – it’s launching a line of synthetic brushes and intends to stop selling all badger hair by 2020.

Global

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HOPPING MAD

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