Russia and Belarus: Update on animal experimentation and alternatives

InterNICHE Co-ordinator Nick Jukes reports with news from Russia and Belarus


Contents:

Pets for practice: Surgery scandal in Russia’s far east

Zoology replacement at Moscow Agricultural Academy

Award and Humane Education Day launched

Conscientious objector wins first court case – and begins second

St Petersburg: No more power failures

Seven mile steps: Progress in Velikie Luki

Heading south: Meetings in Rostov-on-Don

White Russia: Minsk and beyond



Pets for practice: Surgery scandal in Russia’s far east

In the Russian far east, 8000 km from Moscow and on the border with China, is the city of Blagoveschensk. In 2006, the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics at the Far-East State University of Agriculture in this ‘city of students’ became the focus of a major scandal about animal use in surgery, leading to the end of animal experiments but also the expulsion of a conscientiously objecting student this year.

Tools of the trade

The dumping in March 2006 in a village near Blagoveschensk of many cadavers of pedigree dogs that had apparently suffered serious wounds before dying exposed the reality that veterinary students were practicing surgery on stolen companion animals and strays. Some residents of the city had at other times found their companion animals alive but with wounds and scars, and even in some cases with surgical equipment left in their bodies.

The local media investigated and covered the story, with graphic photos of the dumped cadavers. They reported a link between the animals and the university, and quoted the surgery department who confirmed that the dogs had originated there, but that ‘they are animal patients from the clinic that were euthanised due to illness.’ As has been reported before concerning student use of healthy animals for surgery practice in Russia (1), students in Blagoveschensk had been encouraged and coerced into catching animals to use in their practical classes, and it is believed that the cadavers were of animals used in such way.

As the new academic year began in September 2006, the order was given for the veterinary students to begin catching animals again. One student caught a cat and asked her colleague Yulia Ananyeva, a mature student, to look after it at home until the next day’s surgery class. Refusing to do this, and shocked by the demand to catch animals and use them for surgery practice, the latter immediately contacted philosophy teacher and active environmentalist Natalya Kalinina. Along with another concerned student, the three began a campaign.

Searching for information about animal experiments and alternatives, they found the websites of InterNICHE and Russian animal rights group VITA. These provided the campaigners with evidence of the existence, implementation and efficacy of alternatives, including news about replacement in Russia and abroad. Importantly, it confirmed to them that the situation in Blagoveschensk was not normal and could be changed.

A petition against animal experimentation in surgery was launched, which many students signed. And an important press conference was organised for 14th September 2006, where the cruelties in the Department of Surgery were publicly denounced and the city was reminded of the dumping of cadavers earlier in the year. The increasing amount of Russian-language literature, website material and other resources developed in recent years played an important role in both the press conference and the campaign that evolved from it.

Action and reaction

The pro-active approach taken by organising the press conference brought immediate attention on the cruelty and thefts. The university faced media exposure and an investigation by prosecutors in which officers took the unusual step of visiting the Department of Surgery unannounced. And it forced the cancellation of the surgery labs by the university – to try to avoid further attention and potential embarrassment.

The university, with the on-going focus on its practicals, retreated into classic Soviet-style denial and attempts to save face. Officials asserted on television and in newspapers that ‘everything is OK now’ and that ‘anyway, there are no alternatives to the use of animals’. Informed about progress in St Petersburg, they stated that it is not true that there has been replacement there. However, they were unaware of or were ignoring the fact that at the St Petersburg State Academy of Veterinary Sciences, it was the Department of Pharmacology that had brought about replacement, not the Department of Surgery – yet.

The university then tried to isolate and intimidate the campaigners, who suffered serious discrimination. Yulia Ananyeva and the student who spoke out at the press conference were given low marks and threatened with expulsion. They faced “disrespect and even hatred” from other students, who blame them for the problems ‘they’ have caused. According to Natalya Kalinina, the other students had been threatened by the university into conformity; they had also seen how the campaigners were being treated and wanted no problems themselves. They therefore refused to speak against the Department of Surgery and the experiments – even being reported in the media as “asking to defend the honour of the university”. They also falsely accused the campaigners of getting them to sign a blank petition, or claimed they thought they were signing something else.

Clash of cultures

In provincial Russia the culture is often very ‘Soviet’ and therefore extremely conservative. Academic institutes are often staffed by old teachers who reflect such attitudes, and corruption is rife. With a degree or higher qualification so valuable for a student’s future, bribery is commonplace and it is not unknown for some women to consider it necessary to offer sex in exchange for good marks or for accommodation. This is particularly true of students who are not from the city and who, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, have not had access to grants or scholarships to cover education and living expenses.

According to Lena Maroueva of InterNICHE-Russia, many teachers and students at the agricultural institutes come from villages, and in some ways are less aware. Much sensitivity and interpersonal respect present in the traditional village was destroyed through decades of Soviet social engineering, denial of the individual and exposure to brutality. It is clear that the resultant psychology impacts negatively not only on animals but also on those who defend the rights of animals and students.

Teacher Natalia Kalinina was ‘invited to the carpet’ of the Head of Department of Philosophy to be questioned about her ‘breaking the ethical code’ for an employee. She defended her position, but was subsequently denied her doctoral thesis, and thus her professorship. As is typical in such cases of corruption and abuse of power, no reasons were given. Moreover, the university also threatened to take her and the students to court. “This is a clear illustration of how human rights are denied to campaigners,” points out Lena Maroueva. Already in a minority, campaigners can face serious discrimination for the challenge they present – and of course this is true not only of Russia.

Natalya Kalinina is leader of the Amur ecological club ‘Ulukitkan’ and a member of the influential political party ‘Yabloko’. Representatives of these bodies, including the all-Russia head of Yabloko, joined many others in complaining to the university about the animal abuse and the treatment of the campaigners. InterNICHE also expressed its concern and chose a positive focus by offering support and resources concerning alternatives to the university – as well as to the campaigners. Some university colleagues ‘secretly admire’ the teacher, but won’t speak out because they believe it will change nothing. In Russia – and perhaps everywhere – speaking out and taking action is the only way to change anything, though it is not without its risks.

The strength of the campaigners to have taken action as they did should be recognised. It is hard enough to go against the orthodoxy, the corruption, the cruelty and one’s peers, without risking one’s education, career and financial prospects in the process. While the press conference was no doubt provocative, the theft and mutilation of the companion animals and strays was this and more. And unlike what happened in the Department of Surgery, it was entirely justified. It is likely that any approach taken by the campaigners would have resulted in the same defensive and irresponsible reaction.

Crime, lawlessness and disempowerment

Yulia Ananyeva and her student colleague managed to avoid the experiments themselves, but say that the use of companion animal and strays “is so widespread that everyone knows what is being done”. However, the investigators from the local prosecutor’s office saw no proof of cruelty, no experiments and no cadavers. All the other students denied what was happening. The prosecutors therefore accepted the university’s claims that the cadavers were from clinic patients who needed to be euthanised, and they were fined for ‘inappropriate disposal methods’ only. Otherwise, ‘no laws had been broken’, and the prosecutors discontinued their investigation.

Even if the prosecutors had witnessed cruelty, a fine would have been unlikely due to the weak and non-existent Russian laws. Within the few laws that do deal with animal protection, the relevant article in the Criminal Code covers only companion animals (though some interpret it as relevant to all animals). Usually a lack of documentary evidence, for example about ‘ownership’ of a companion animal, and the unwillingness of witnesses to speak out, make such a law almost useless.

“Most people in Russia are passive, and believe they can’t change anything,” says Lena Maroueva. “So many animals are killed ‘legally’ that action can seem pointless. In the smaller cities, towns and villages, dog catchers sometimes even catch and kill dogs being walked with their guardians because they are temporarily off their leashes.” Such practice, and the legal situation, no doubt contribute to the lack of action from companion animal guardians whose animals were killed for surgery practice in Blagoveschensk.

Another example of the obstacles to justice is an April 2006 incident when a ‘friendly’ dog was severely beaten by a security guard in a Moscow metro station. The dog died soon afterwards. In this case many witnesses were present. VITA managed to bring the incident to court – which in itself was considered a success – but after 10 hearings still no action has been taken. And from experience, in almost all such cases the individual is found not guilty.

Conclusion

Back at the university, Yulia Ananyeva was marked down in her exams and so didn’t pass, and in March 2007 was expelled. She was anyway “tired of the cold atmosphere and exhausted from the bad treatment” – and decided not to fight further. She now works as an assistant in a veterinary clinic, but might still choose to study a different university later. As a teacher, Natalya Kalinina’s position is stronger, and she has shown that she is confident and can create problems for the university, so despite the injustices suffered she is now being left alone. The third campaigner has family connections at the university, so received help and ‘protection’, and continues to study veterinary medicine in Blagoveschensk.

The campaign is no longer active. The scandal was huge, but everything happened fast. The theft of animals and the abuse in the surgery practicals have stopped, but for how long is yet to be seen. This is, however, still a significant achievement considering the inertia and corruption within such a university. Moreover, the campaigners’ use of contacts, information and other resources, and their situating of the campaign in the wider context of progress towards humane and best practice education in Russia and beyond, is a reflection of a movement that is becoming stronger.


Zoology replacement at Moscow State Agricultural Academy

Progress in the replacement of killed animals used for anatomy practical classes is being made at the Moscow State Agricultural Academy. This follows interest and initiative from a zoology teacher and an eco-student group with links to VITA.

The Russian micro-Loan System of alternatives from InterNICHE has played a major role in supporting this collaboration, as it has done in many other cases. Video and software alternatives of dogfish, frog and invertebrate dissection were borrowed by the Academy and trialled. One-to-one communication between InterNICHE-Russia and the relevant individuals at the Academy facilitated the loan of the most appropriate learning tools. A pigeon dissection alternative was also rushed to the Department of Zoology when it was discovered that the killing of birds for a practical was imminent. With just a few days’ notice, the killing was avoided through the use of the alternatives.

Teachers and students have been happy with the quality of the learning tools, despite their current unavailability in the Russian language. A meeting with the Dean showed that he too is supportive of replacement, criticising in particular the “stupid Pavlov experiments” (his words) within physiology. In April 2007, teachers and students from the Academy were interviewed in two television news features that investigated alternatives.

In the same month it was confirmed that the alternatives – loaned for several months – have now directly replaced much of the killing of animals for students in the Department of Zoology. The Academy is now applying to InterNICHE for funds to purchase the alternatives from the producers, while InterNICHE investigates potential alternatives to dissection of the leech – the remaining anatomy practical that involves harmful animal use.

This curricular transformation is important because it involves use of existing alternatives rather than a request to make new alternatives or a refusal to use any because of the language barrier. Furthermore, such activity in a faculty of biology is new, with most historical and recent activity being veterinary and medical.

Feeling the pain

However, there are reports that alcohol is being used to anaesthetise animals before experiments in physiology practicals at the Academy. Availability of drugs for anaesthesia of animals continues to be a major issue in Russia. VITA led the fight in 2003-2004 against the actions of the government’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DAE) concerning the anaesthetic ketamine (2). The drug became illegal in 1998 through an oversight at the Ministry of Agriculture, but veterinarians continued to use it because there were few other anaesthetic drugs practicably available.

The DAE began aggressively prosecuting veterinarians, and VITA actively defended them. As well as helping to cement links between VITA and the profession, the campaign met with some degree of success: no further prosecutions, and a formal legalisation of its use – though with very strict conditions that only rich veterinarians could meet. The ‘ketamine scandal’, therefore, has still not been fully resolved, though some clinics continue to use it.

Universities are unlikely to take the risk of using the ketamine, and the use of alcohol – even vodka – at the Academy and other establishments is within the realms of possibility. Certainly vodka is sometimes used as an anaesthetic with farm animals. The drug is of course popular with people too, and over 3500 Russians are reported to die every month from drinking counterfeit vodka as they anaesthetise themselves against Russia’s social and economic problems.


Award and Annual Humane Education Day launched

A new award that recognises the most progressive Russian university has just been launched in Moscow at the 2007 Congress of the Association of Practicing Veterinarians. Lena Maroueva announced the launch at the press conference and at the opening of this important event, which has for several years had a major InterNICHE presence.

Head of the Association, Sergei Serida, has frequently spoken out against animal experiments in education, describing them as “unnecessary and cruel”. He promotes alternatives and asserts the need for improvement in the quality of education. Taking such a ‘radical’ approach is a risk considering his reputation and connections, but for this very reason it is very welcome. Ministry of Agriculture officials usually open the congress.

The award brings together a number of organisations together: the Association of Practicing Veterinarians, the Human-Animal Relationship Ethics Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the International Association Against Painful Experiments on Animals (IAAPEA), InterNICHE and VITA. The winner will be chosen by InterNICHE and will be given the prize of a hand-made bronze sculpture of a frog, specially commissioned for the purpose. The artwork is by renowned sculptor Aleksandr Tsigal, who has created work for the Kremlin and a major Moscow cathedral.

Aleksandr Tsigal is also known for creating the world’s first monument to stray animals, a famous bronze sculpture titled ‘Compassion’, which was unveiled recently in a Moscow metro station. The work was conceived after a local dog named Malchik (which means ‘boy’) was knifed and killed in the station by a famous Russian model. A journalist connected to VITA reported the killing in the media and led a high profile campaign to raise funds and to secure permission for a monument. The model was exposed as a serial animal killer, and found guilty in court.

Focus on replacement

The winner of the award and the sculpture will be announced on 24th October 2007 – Humane Education Day. This new annual event for former Soviet countries was launched last year to provide a focus for regional progress towards humane education and alternatives to animal experiments. The Humane Education Day was launched by three organisations – InterNICHE, IAAPEA and VITA.

On 24th October 2005, the Department of Pharmacology at the St Petersburg State Academy of Veterinary Sciences signed a contract with InterNICHE to end all animal use for students. The significance of the collaborative humane education project is illustrated by the fact that the founder of department was a student of Ivan Pavlov himself. The establishment of a multimedia laboratory, funded by IAAPEA, now provides access to advanced software for students.

On 24th October 2006, InterNICHE and the Faculty of Animal Production Technology at Velikie Luki Agricultural Academy (who train veterinary students) also signed a contract confirming it has ended harmful animal use and acknowledging the on-going collaboration. This groundbreaking agreement is the first in Russia at the level of a faculty, and illustrates a genuine commitment from teachers to the use of modern learning tools and to humanity in science.

A further contract with the Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology at Kazan State Veterinary Academy ended all harmful and invasive experiments for students there. And 6 months later on World Day for Laboratory Animals – 24th April 2007 – a new Agreement was made with the Sakharov Medical and Ecological University in Minsk, Belarus. Like that for Velikie Luki, this confirmed the ending of harmful animal use in the Department of Radiobiology, and acknowledged on-going collaboration. The department also includes incorporates the discipline of pathophysiology, which has historically involved many severe experiments on animals. The document was signed by teacher Inna Merkulova and the vice-Rector, and is important because it is the first agreement made with pathophysiologists.

The growing momentum for humane education and the growing number of contacts being made – particularly across Russia – are the results of a diversity of resources and projects, most created and managed through voluntary input. These include the provision of printed and on-line information resources, many of which are translated; outreach visits and demonstrations of alternatives; postal outreach of over 1000 letters sent direct to teachers; the micro-Loan System and freeware alternatives; grant funding for teachers’ own initiatives; media coverage; support from funders; and the campaigners’ group identity, vision and commitment.

In a press release, Lena Maroueva stated, “Increasingly in Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere, progressive institutes are demonstrating that alternatives are ideal for the region and can help guarantee a better quality life science education in difficult economic circumstances. We are happy to see the tide beginning to turn for the many animal experiments performed here – experiments that not only harm animals unnecessarily but also limit student access to modern learning tools. The launch of the Award and the Humane Education Day highlight the exciting progress that is being made.”


Conscientious objector wins first court case – and begins second

Russian conscientious objector Roman Beloysov, a biology student from Moscow State University (MSU), has won the first legal battle concerning his right to alternatives.

The court case was initiated against the Russian government’s Federal Body for Control in Education and Science, the body that is responsible for controlling academic institutions. Roman argued that it had failed to meet its responsibilities by letting MSU abuse his rights. In October 2006, “with a good lawyer, at last”, he won the case. The court ordered the Federal Body to answer the questions Roman had asked of them a year ago, but which had not been answered. And it wrote to the Faculty of Biology with a recommendation to replace animal experiments with alternatives, for Roman.

Difficult questions

The questions asked of the Federal Body include: Who is responsible for the health and living conditions of laboratory animals and for related ethical issues? Are the physiology textbooks (and therefore practical classes) in accordance with national and international ethical norms? Why doesn’t the Faculty of Biology use anaesthesia on animals in practical classes? Why are alternative methods not being implemented in the Faculty? And finally, why can’t the study program be adapted to Roman’s case and that of other students?

After a year’s ‘academic holiday’ – an optional break from studies which was granted despite initial fears that he would be sent for military service – Roman returned to university in September 2006 as a 3rd year student. He wasn’t able to formally enter the 4th year, as he should have done, because his refusal to do the physiology practical classes involving animal experiments meant that he had not completed the course as required. Nevertheless – and rather farcically – he has a spoken agreement that he is actually a 4th year student.

The university administration denied him access to the exams of other courses – “a big mistake for them,” according to Roman. Of the many obstacles created for him, he was required to ask permission to take each exam. Sometimes this was accepted, sometimes denied. He was finally able to take various 3rd and 4th year exams in January 2007 – passing them with A grades – and has more exams scheduled for May 2007. But he is still unable to achieve his diploma without passing the physiology practicals, access to ethical versions of which are still denied to him. This issue will need to be decided by the courts.

Setting a precedent

This success of the first court case is not enough to resolve the problems in physiology and to provide Roman with a humane education. Along with his mother, who plays a major role in the action, he is therefore embarking on two further court cases, this time against the university. The first is to achieve the right to his ‘own plan of study’, where it will be guaranteed that he will be able to use only alternatives and not animal experiments throughout his degree. Legal action was initiated against MSU at the end of 2006, with a primary focus on Russian law and regulations.

The first hearing in January 2007 involved a basic review and evaluation of the case. At the second, in February, the judge “made a genuine effort to understand the issue,” and the lawyers from the Faculty and Rectorate were “poorly prepared, aggressive and rude”, said Roman.

It was decided that a more detailed exploration of the conflict would be presented at the next session. Alternatives themselves would be discussed, including the question of whether they constitute ‘advanced’ teaching methods: Moscow State University’s own charter states that it is “obliged to organise… the introduction of advanced methods of study.” The government has allocated significant funding for ‘innovation’ to universities.

The third hearing, held appropriately on World Day for Laboratory Animals, was therefore a long session investigating the nature of dissection and definition of standards in education. Roman reported: “We found out that there are no educational standards which say that procedures [including dissection] must be carried out on animals”.

The federal component of the published ‘Standards of Education’ from the Ministry of Education does state that dissection is necessary, but animals are not specifically mentioned. Roman therefore argues that dissection of killed animals is not required; and he wants to prove that dissection is possible in ‘alternative’ ways, including with the use of software. Failing this, he is willing to take new court action to try to modify the standards themselves.

The lawyers for MSU offered little proof of their opinions against humane education, alternatives and Roman’s rights at this hearing.

As the fourth – and perhaps final – hearing approaches, the use of witnesses and further evidence becomes crucially important. Roman will invite Lena Maroueva and progressive MSU teacher Anatoly Lukianov to speak to the court, and will use alternatives from the InterNICHE-Russia micro-Loan System to help demonstrate the efficacy of humane learning tools. In a separate action he will also ask the court to demand that the Dean of MSU, Mikhail Krpichnikov, formally answers his questions, just as the Federal Body for Control in Education and Science was required to in October 2006.

The second court case being considered by Roman is to claim that MSU caused him ‘moral damage’ – that is, harmed his reputation by allegedly spreading lies about him. Roman stresses the importance of each of these cases; and he is as keen to set precedents as MSU is to avoid them.

Climate change

The Head of the Department of Microbiology (to which Roman ‘belongs’) is considering ending the animal experiments in physiology, but just be for students within the former department. This tactic may be just an avoidance of dealing responsibly with the issue. In the Department of Physiology, the former Head, Igor Ashmarin, was always intransigent, but his successor Andrej Kanyenskij is even more inflexible and conformist. He refuses even to talk about the issue, or accept by hand the letters from Roman stating his conscientious objection and refusal to participate in some practicals. Instead the letters need to be sent by post. The psychology of the teachers is illustrated by Igor Ashmarin’s claim that putting frogs into a refrigerator constitutes anaesthesia.

The attitude of the Faculty of Biology towards Roman is, however, beginning to change. The decision by the court that the Federal Body must give answers to his questions has made MSU realise that ‘higher levels’ are involved and that the battle is not just between a monolith and a mouse, albeit one that roars. The Faculty now gives considered responses immediately to all Roman’s communications. The Federal Body can theoretically take away MSU’s official status, providing even more reasons for the latter to ‘behave’.

The Federal Body is also ‘polite and careful’, with an official specially assigned to Roman’s case. They recognise that Roman knows his rights, which is something very untypical for Russia. “They understand that it is better to agree with me, and the university is also beginning to realise that too.”

Action potential

Anatoly Lukianov, who teaches bioethics at MSU and who knows Roman, has been facing discrimination within the Department of Higher Nervous Activity. The teachers consider him as having ‘taught Roman to be difficult’, and morally responsible for the several Animal Liberation Front (ALF) actions at the Faculty of Biology – neither of which are true. In the standard 5-yearly assessment he was accused by colleagues of not being ‘scientific’, but he prevailed – albeit for a 12 month period only. With the increasing personal abuse and vindictiveness, however, he chose to move to the Department of Embryology.

Personal squabbles and rivalries are not uncommon in academia, more so when positions of power within universities are influenced by privilege, corruption and conformity. At MSU the level of higher nervous activity and respect leaves something to be desired. Anatoly Lukianov’s story now has parallels with that of Roman, who would be happy to see further court cases against the university. “It is more effective to rise up together.”

Roman has called for international organisations dealing with animal protection, alternatives and civil rights to contact the Rector, whom he considers the only person in the administration who can force the Department of Physiology to change. InterNICHE will announce the appeal soon.

Never shy of stressing the priority his activism should be given, Roman correctly asserts the significance of his case for Russia and beyond: “It is important because the issue is human rights as they apply to ethics and animal protection. And it is especially important now.”


St Petersburg: no more power failures

The multimedia laboratory at the Department of Pharmacology at the St Petersburg State Academy of Veterinary Sciences, which has replaced the annual use of over 1000 animals, is now fully working. Last year it was discovered that the use of the computers cut power to the rest of the building, so the old electrical circuitry had to be replaced. With direct appeals to the Rector from the department and from InterNICHE, the work was completed during summer 2006 – to everyone’s surprise and satisfaction. The computers donated by IAAPEA could then be used fully for the new academic year. The Rector had also agreed to new desks, giving the laboratory its finishing touches.

Teacher Tatyana Novosaduk and new Head of Department Nadezhda Lukianova have been assessing the software donated by InterNICHE to choose most relevant parts for the practical classes. The freeware Microlabs from Henk van Wilgenburg in the Netherlands, and freeware ExPharm from R. Raveendran in India have proved very popular, valued for being ‘very visual and interesting’ as well as meeting the teaching requirements. As with most alternatives, these learning tools were produced by the teachers themselves – for pedagogical as much as ethical reasons.

They have been producing support material for each lesson, both for the students and for the teachers; some students have also been asking for copies of the CDs for home use. They have also given very positive feedback on the progress of the replacement of animal experiments and the implementation of the software, to the extent of requesting longer lessons and a keenness to spread alternatives to other departments.

The Russian version of ExPharm was launched in April 2007. The translation was sponsored by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and programmed by Alexey Skrobanskiy from InterNICHE-Russia. Moscovsky Komsolets, a major newspaper, had positive coverage of the launch, which replaced its previous cynicism about alternatives in education. A Russian version of physiology freeware had been launched some months earlier.

Learning by example

The department is very proud of its work, showing the laboratory to participants of conferences organised at the Academy. The changes are also “very famous at the Academy, and at other institutes in St Petersburg,” according to Tatyana Novosaduk. Fellow teachers have been requesting copies of the freeware being used. Increasingly, faculties across the rest of Russia are becoming aware of the St Petersburg experience, and of replacement by multimedia elsewhere. News is spreading not only by word of mouth. A number of academic journals and conference proceedings have also published papers about the laboratory and use the modern technology within education, so teachers themselves are now actively involved in the promotion of alternatives. Some healthy competition is just beginning to develop across Russia.

As a prominent Russian pharmacologist, former Head of Department Vladimir Sokolov offered to provide connections and a recommendation to facilitate InterNICHE outreach in other cities. Such ‘protection’ will extend to other former Soviet countries where contacts exist. Already a degree of awareness and media coverage of alternatives has been achieved in countries such as Uzbekistan. The availability of funds from the InterNICHE Humane Education Award, for example, has been announced on-line from the country.

Tatyana Novosaduk commented on the nature of InterNICHE outreach and gave suggestions of enhancing it. She thinks it is important to stress the ethical aspect of replacement work – not just for its positive impact on animals, but also for people and society in terms of humanisation of science education and the level of respect within a culture. She also believes that sharing personal experience of ethical commitment and vision, and of taking action to realise that vision, is crucially important for young Russians to hear and understand at this point in time. Disempowerment and fatalism are not uncommon in Russian society today.

Students are still frustrated with the situation of severe experiments performed in physiology practical classes. In pathophysiology, however, teacher Oksana Kryachko and Head of Department Stanlislav Lutyinksi – initially sceptical – have reflected on the use of animals and are now interested in new computers for the department. Oksana Kryachko reports that they have stopped most experiments in education, using clinical cases for non-invasive experiments and observations, and videos produced at Smolensk Medical University. It is difficult, however, to confirm the exact situation.

At the St Petersburg State Medical University – named after Ivan Pavlov – a lecture with basic demonstrations of alternatives was given to heads of department and research students. Alternatives had already been borrowed twice, and the software Pictures Instead of Animals, produced by the Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation, was donated by InterNICHE. Interest in replacement from participants at the presentation was high, with a statement from the Head of the Faculty of Medicine, pathophysiologist Nikolai Petrishev, that “We’ve decided to replace all the experiments”. A project to achieve this is being established, and staff are keen to learn about the experience of others.

A small number of new alternatives had been produced at the Institute, but they comprised films of severe experiments with little or no pedagogical value. For example, one of mice in ice – will they or won’t they die? Such ‘alternatives’ may help replace the same experiments done for real, but they perpetuate and do not challenge a mindset where such cruel experiments are seen as acceptable and valuable. Both the experiments and the ‘alternatives’ divert from real education, but they do highlight the urgent need for thorough assessment of the curriculum. The majority of teachers are keen to do this and to implement high quality alternatives.

Dissecting convention

As expected, there were a few cynics at the presentation, including the senior surgery teacher who had been “teaching surgery for 40 years without any problems”. In response to this, others said privately that “We are working on them.” Comments such as this from the surgery teacher need to be answered in ways that also identify and deal with the unacknowledged assumptions behind them. This critical thinking approach is often the most effective in cutting through to the real issues in order to find common ground, to challenge where appropriate, and to identify opportunities for progress.

In this case the assumptions were multiple: that animal experiments are the ‘real thing’ and everything else is at best a mediocre attempt to replicate; that if animals are necessary for surgical skills acquisition then animal experiments provide the only option; that alternatives do not provide hands-on learning opportunities; that different or innovative approaches cannot beat the way things have always been done; and that criticism of a method implies rejection of the individual using it.

The assumptions expose some of the weaknesses in the defence of harmful animal use in education and training. Amongst others, these include the unnecessary creation of binary opposites, with a demand that we make our choices between them. For example, the ‘choice’ between learning through animal experiments or not learning at all; between separated human and animal interests; between ‘your child or a rat’.

Without taking into account the broader picture, including the power relations that allow harmful animal use and the agenda of those who present the choices, the ‘unfortunate but necessary evil’ of animal experimentation may seem the only common sense option. But transcending such binary opposites is necessary, not least for reasons of intellectual integrity. Win-win solutions to the challenges within life science education are eminently possible: animals, students, teachers and the professions can all benefit from investment in humane education.

A second mistake is the confusion between method and aims. This is often illustrated by attachment to a specific method (animal experimentation, and practical classes using this approach) rather than a primary commitment to effective acquisition of knowledge and skills. Informed curricular design begins with an identification of learning objectives to be achieved (the ‘real thing’), followed by a review of possible tools and approaches and subsequent implementation of appropriate best practice methods (3, 4).


Seven mile steps: Progress in Velikie Luki

Collaboration between InterNICHE and the Faculty of Animal Production Technology at Velikie Luki Agricultural Academy is continuing. The Agreement made with the Faculty, signed by the Rector and by pro-Rector Farhat Suleimanov, confirmed the commitment to alternatives and to on-going collaboration.

The Academy plans to develop into a full university, and modernisation is part of this process. An important development is the arrival of the first year of students at the new Veterinary Department. As discussed previously, this department will almost certainly involve no animal experimentation. InterNICHE is collaborating to help ensure that as students begin courses that have conventionally involved harmful animal use – such as physiology, pharmacology and surgery – they have access to best practice tools for effective and ethical acquisition of knowledge and skills.

Already in the Faculty teachers have used alternatives from the Russian micro-Loan System to teach, and student feedback has been positive. The experience is being shared, with at least one regional conference report on alternatives. The local edition of the newspaper Pravda also carried an article on the November 2006 InterNICHE visit that was very positive towards alternatives and the Faculty’s progress.

Young and old

There is significant potential for the wisdom and experience of older teachers schooled in and familiar with animal experimentation to be used and integrated into the production and implementation of alternative tools and approaches. For example, physiological knowledge can be combined with mathematical modelling, programming and graphic design skills to produce cutting-edge software.

However, while the implementation of many of the changes towards humane education at the Faculty has been smooth, in some aspects it has demanded a sharp break with tradition – specifically with those individuals unwilling to accept the new methods such as multimedia. The Faculty is assessing people to see how well they can accept alternatives, and more than one teacher has lost their job because of non-acceptance of the modern methods that are helping to define the direction of education and training here.

More progressive teachers have good prospects. Three research students involved in teaching are involved in taking forward the implementation of alternatives, including the development of new software within the Faculties. Beta versions of the software have already been used with students, and feedback has enabled refinement of the work. The same young teachers have “30-40 years at the institute ahead of them”, according to Farhat Suleimanov, illustrating a long term interest in alternatives. Despite the flattery of the research students towards InterNICHE – “The Faculty will develop in seven mile steps after your visit” – the Faculty’s own initiatives are indeed bringing about true change. Commenting on the commitment to modernisation and the replacement already achieved, the pro-Rector added, “I can guarantee 100% that there will be no going back.”


Heading south: Meetings in Rostov-on-Don

Following her attendance at the InterNICHE Regional Meeting for former Soviet countries held in Kyiv in April 2006, campaigner Natasha Antipina invited the small but growing InterNICHE-Russia team to speak and demonstrate alternatives in Rostov-on-Don, the southern Russian city that is ‘the gateway to the Caucasus’.

For the first event, however, Rostov State University cancelled the venue just 1 hour before the start. An alternative venue was arranged, but not without the loss of a significant number of participants. It is believed that the cancellation may have been because it was discovered that Natasha Antipina is involved in campaigning for children’s and students’ rights across the city. Her organisation’s slogan is ‘Not born to crawl’. Supporting democratisation through student access to information, technology and best practice learning tools, and exposing and stopping discrimination and abuse, can put one on a collision course with the authorities.

Teaching the teachers

The second event was held at the Faculty of Natural Science at Rostov Pedagogical University. Interest in alternatives from teachers and discomfort with experiments from students provided the context, enabling a long and successful presentation to a large number of interested students and teachers. Many copies of a CD of InterNICHE material were distributed, along with freeware and Russian-language booklets. Loans were also made from the Russian micro-Loan System, managed by Alexey Skrobanskiy who had come to Rostov from his base in Arkhangelsk. As well as smaller meetings with teachers, an alliance was made with a progressive veterinarian in the city who had managed to avoid experiments in her own education – and who “for years had been dreaming of what we were talking about.”

As well as providing an opportunity for a meeting of InterNICHE-Russia campaigners, allowing for the development of a group identity for the first time – the visit clearly demonstrated one aspect of the InterNICHE approach: giving a high level of responsibility, with support, to local or national volunteer campaigners. Other meetings in Rostov were also organised, with Natasha Antipina and Alexey Skrobanskiy making the presentations alone for the first time – resulting in further positive impact in the region, and the empowerment of the campaigners.


White Russia: Minsk and beyond

A national level two-day seminar on alternatives was held in Minsk in November 2006.
The main host was the Belarussian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, through which all Belarussian medical students pass. The Academy collaborated with the Fundamental Research Foundation, the National Committee on Bioethics, and the Ministry of Health for the seminar. Also involved in the organisation were EcoUni, a new body of students and young teachers from Minsk who represented Belarus at an InterNICHE Regional Meeting for former Soviet countries earlier in the year.

Under the gaze of President Lukashenko, whose photograph is on the wall of almost every room, the seminar successfully brought together most figures from the country who had an interest in and experience of alternatives, as well as others keen to defend experiments. Physiology teacher Tatyana Morozkina of the Belarussian State Medical University (formerly Minsk Medical Institute), described her many experiments on dogs and subsequent replacement of them during the 1990’s, as well as the positive impact of the last major alternatives event in the country – a 1997 conference that involved FRAME, the UK Home Office and InterNICHE. Other speakers addressed issues such as legislation, ‘bioethics’, and the development of positive and negative attitudes amongst scientists. There was significant interest in modernising the learning process.

The event highlighted the importance of international and western connections to countries like Belarus. According to EcoUni campaigners and co-organisers Tatiana Silich and Irina Chekmareva, a major reason for the success in holding the seminar was the international – that is, InterNICHE – presence. Still, last-minute difficulties almost caused a cancellation, with the event being rescued only by a senior university figure well-connected with the Ministry. This illustrates the challenge of organising such an event, and its vulnerability.

A man’s best friend

While the first day of the seminar focused on education and training, the second was held at a campus out of the city and addressed experiments in research and testing. It involved much justification of experiments, showing how some teachers can be convinced of the pedagogical and ethical necessity of alternatives in education and training but still fully support harmful animal use in other fields, where ‘different rules apply’.

Privately one teacher described how his research of a few decades ago had involved crushing the paws of dogs, by degrees, and of exploding bombs next to others. Without anaesthesia of course, “to avoid influencing the results.” He commented that animal experiments do “create a dilemma”, but that “research has to be done.” Nevertheless, “sometimes it still keeps me awake at night.”

Such brutal use of animals was widespread in all Soviet countries, and was accepted due to its ‘benefits’ to people. Russian campaigner Tatyana Pavlova has spent decades lobbying officials and working behind the scenes to create some protection for animals, with very basic recommendations to limit the worst abuses expressed in rules issued by the government in 1978. However, it is unknown what really changed on the ground; nature and animals, after all, were defined as tools that would serve ideological purposes. ‘Science’ and experimentation would take society forward to a yet brighter future.

The west is similar today, claiming a commitment to the greater good, though not always sufficiently self-aware or honest to acknowledge its own ideological origins. One of the legacies of the Soviet Union is the freedom of western companies to subcontract in Russia and other countries for experimentation with few restrictions.

At the conference, other teachers described their applications of the 3Rs, but often with little hard information provided, making no overview possible. A very limited understanding of alternatives was also sometimes apparent. Historically, killing an animal after a procedure was common practice, whatever the condition of the animal. Two researchers proudly talked of keeping an animal alive instead of killing it in such a situation; but the comment that the animal was then used for a further experiment was added almost as an afterthought, with no mention of his or her welfare and no concept of recovery and rehabilitation.

The Vitebsk Veterinary Academy was noted by several participants as continuing to perform a wide range of unnecessary and cruel experiments today. The presentation by a surgery teacher from the Academy was rather confused, but he told Lena Maroueva afterwards that “no experiments are being done”, that “the vivarium is only there for reasons of history and nostalgia” and that although there are still a few rabbits, “they are so well cared for they are even given pineapples”. Graphic photographs obtained by IAAPEA in 2002 suggest this may be far from the truth, and a former student recently confirmed the continuing cruelty. It is also reported that some students practice in the slaughterhouse on animals about to be killed. Customers eat a variety of cuts of meat…

Critical thinking

The general level of education in Belarus was criticised: despairing at failed attempts to reach consensus in recent years on issues such as organ transplantation and other ‘bioethical’ issues, several participants described such a poor level of debate that even agreement on what was being debated could not be reached. Of the conference participants, however, it was clear that some of those who are most interested in alternatives in Belarus are at a level of commitment and ethical consistency below those in their former Soviet and other neighbours.

Historically in command societies genuine informed debate at the grassroots has been rare, with a resultant lack of practice in discussion and critical thinking. And where debate has been possible, it has often been of little consequence. For example, despite the study of bioethics having been encouraged in Soviet times (and even now), the topic of in vivo animal use has often been avoided, showing how the discipline has sometimes been more of a diversion from debate on the real issues. The potential of events in countries such as Belarus is also stifled by a cultural history of hosting conferences for their own sake – with presentations more than generous in their dose of statistics.

Although it was not cited at the conference as a possible cause, there may be a significant correlation between the level of critical thinking in society and the power of countries’ political establishments and media empires over ordinary people. Belarus and the US would be good subjects of study in this respect, and academic Noam Chomsky has certainly explored the latter. A Russian observer noted that culturally there is still a distinctly ‘Soviet’ atmosphere in the country, often with “an unpleasant air of superiority” from those in positions of power, including at universities.

For Belarus, the distribution of basic information and resources is considered a priority by InterNICHE, to help encourage thinking on the issue of animal use and ethics in science, as much as to help achieve replacement. This distribution has begun with Russian-language literature, video material and alternatives from InterNICHE; and networks for sharing these resources and news are being created by EcoUni. This is especially important considering the dearth of existing channels for accessing information in the country. Other organisations are encouraged to provide translated resources dealing with replacement alternatives in research and testing.

Commitment to alternatives

Despite the above problems, the animal welfare laws and regulations of the Ukraine and the Czech Republic were cited at the conference as positive examples and something to aspire to as the Belarussian animal welfare law goes through its third draft. Although the ability to see the broader picture and to strategise are sometimes lacking, commitment and clear thinking at least from a minority of campaigners is apparent and growing. And elements of the conference were genuinely well organised.

The Agreement made in April 2007 between InterNICHE and the Sakharov Medical and Ecological University confirming the end of harmful animal use is significant. Public awareness of alternatives is also slowly rising, and a national TV station did film the conference. In two reports – also available on-line (5) – it enthused about alternatives in education and progress that it claimed was being made towards replacement. Belarus stands for an alternative to experiments on animals favourably compared the media-friendly clinical skills training mannekin ‘Critical Care Jerry’ with the dogs in the vivarium; but the report concluded with a statement of full support for experiments in research and testing, including for cosmetics.



Notes and references

(1) For background and further information on animal use and alternatives in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries, see Jukes N. Ukraine and Russia: major InterNICHE outreach. ALTEX 2005;22(4):269-74. See also Jukes N. UK/EU: alternatives progress in Russia and Ukraine. ALTEX 2006;23(3):223-5.

(2) For details on the evolution of the ketamine crisis, see the archives of VITA newsletters at www.vita.org.ru/english/english.htm

(3) See for example Rasmussen LM. A pedagogically sound innovative and humane plan for veterinary medical education. In Jukes N, Chiuia M, eds. From Guinea Pig to Computer Mouse: Alternative Methods for a Progressive, Humane Education, 2nd ed. Leicester, UK: InterNICHE, 2003:125-133.

(4) See for example Martinsen S, Jukes N. Towards a humane veterinary education. J Vet Med Educ 2005;32:454–460. See also Patronek GJ, Rauch A. Systematic review of comparative studies examining alternatives to the harmful use of animals in biomedical education. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2007;230:37–43

5) Introduction and video link for longer report available here.