Bill to Prohibit High School Students from Harming or Killing Animals

Support A. 3467 and S. 3751 To prohibit high school students from harming or killing animals
A. 3467, introduced by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, and S. 3751, introduced by Senator Thomas Duane, prohibits high school students from performing harmful projects on vertebrate animals. These bills also require teachers to inform students of their right not to perform dissection on animals and to be offered an alternative project. Currently students who have a moral or religious objection to dissection have the right to opt out of dissection but there is no requirement in the law for teachers to inform the students of this right.
Despite the fact that high schools must obtain a waiver from the NYS Department of Education before students can perform harmful vertebrate animal projects, only four waivers in 12 years have ever been applied for and only after we contacted the schools whose students performed the projects.
In one New York high school, students raised and then killed chickens. No waiver was sought. When the Humane Society of New York became aware of the project from United Poultry Concerns, we immediately contacted the NYS Department of Education and the school. The school stated that they were not aware that a waiver was required. Based on our own visits to science fairs and visits by other individuals, we are aware of several other high school projects involving harm and death to vertebrate animals. Examples include exposing animals to smoke, then killing the animals to study the heart, testing cancer drugs on animals, inducing epilepsy, implanting electrodes in rats’ brains, and more.
The bottom line is that animals should not be harmed or killed for high school science projects. A. 3467/S. 3751, if enacted, would remove the unworkable waiver language and substitute the language from the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search rules (formerly Westinghouse) which do not allow high school students to perform invasive vertebrate animal projects. Those rules were adopted in 1969 after a sparrow was blinded as part of a high school student’s project.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Please ask the following legislators to support these bills:
For A. 3467:
*Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the Assembly. Telephone: 212-312-1420, 518 455-3791; Fax: 212-312-1418; E-mail:speaker@assembly.state.ny.us; Address: LOB 932, Albany, NY 12248*Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, Chair of the Education Committee. Telephone: 718-784-3194 (Woodside), 718-456-9492 (Ridgewood) and 518-455-4851 (Albany); Fax: 518-455-3847; E-mail: nolanc@assembly.state.ny.us; Address: LOB 838, Albany, NY 12248*Your local assemblymember. If you do not know the name of or contact information for your assemblymember, go to www.assembly.state.ny.us. In your letter, fax, call, or e-mail, please mention that you are a constituent and include your address in written correspondence.
For S. 3751:
*Senator Malcolm Smith: Senate Majority Leader. Telephone: 518-455-2761; Fax: 518-455-2816; E-mail: masmith@senate.state.ny.us; Address: 909 LOB, Albany, NY 12247
*Your local state senator. If you do not know the name of or contact information for your state senator, go to www.senate.state.ny.us. In your letter, fax, call, or e-mail, please mention that you are a constituent and include your address in written correspondence.
Thanks for your help!