For Immediate Release:
08 November 2024
Contact:
Sanskriti Bansore; SanskritiB@petaindia.org
Hiraj Laljani; HirajL@petaindia.org
Mumbai – In a groundbreaking move, Indala Institute of Pharmacy has signed an agreement pledging to end all experiments on animals formerly required in its pharmacology education classes and to instead use virtual simulation software Ex Pharm, which will be provided free-of-charge by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India in partnership with Bureau for Health and Education Status Upliftment, New Delhi. The decision follows communication with PETA India about the superiority of non-animal research and education methods.
The interactive software allows pharmacology students to conduct experiments using computer-assisted learning methods while sparing the lives of countless mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, and other animals who otherwise may be forced to inhale or consume chemicals, deliberately infected with diseases, mutilated, and then killed via suffocation or neck dislocation. Previously, the institute used approximately 40 albino rats per year in postgraduate student research studies for antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, toxicity, and bioavailability experiments.
“Pharmacology students deserve the best training possible, and that means using modern simulation tools instead of mutilating and killing animals in cruel and outdated experiments,” says PETA India Science Policy Advisor Dr Anjana Aggarwal. “Rats and other animals are not relevant to human pharmacology education, and PETA India encourages all pharmacology programmes to follow Indala Institute of Pharmacy’s progressive decision to advance student education while sparing animals’ lives.”
“Indala Institute of Pharmacy greatly appreciates PETA India for donating Ex Pharm simulation software that allows us to replace our experiments on animals in our undergraduate and postgraduate educational curricula while also enhancing the quality of learning for our students,” says Indala Institute of Pharmacy Principal Dr Vaibhav V Kulkarni.
PETA India notes that in 2022, the National Medical Commission revised its guidelines for postgraduate pharmacology curricula, recommending the use of several non-animal teaching and training methods and no longer making certain routine laboratory experiments on animals mandatory.
Research shows that a significant number of students at every educational level are uncomfortable with the use of animals in dissection and experimentation, and some even turn away from scientific careers rather than violate their principles. In addition, computer software programmes can be used repeatedly, which saves time and money and helps maintain ecological balance by sparing animals’ lives.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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