|
Animal Protection >
Worldwide Actions >
Russia
Ukraine and Russia
Major InterNICHE outreach, training in
alternatives and replacement of animal experiments
During October 2005, InterNICHE National Contacts Anya Yushchenko and
Lena Maroueva, and Co-ordinator Nick Jukes, began a large-scale
promotion of alternatives across the Ukraine and Russia which
culminated in guaranteed replacement of animal experiments at a
number of university departments.
Bioethics and alternatives
The month of outreach began with the 2nd International Bioethics
Symposium, held from 4-7 October in Kharkiv, Ukraine. This
predominantly Ukrainian event was organised by Tatyana Shchegoleva of
Kharkiv State University. InterNICHE’s involvement included
presentations and demonstrations of alternatives at the Pedagogical
Institute, Zoovet Institute and the research-based Veterinary
Academy. Nick Jukes gave a detailed overview of alternatives in
education and the InterNICHE Policy, and Anya Yushchenko reported on
the experience of three years of lending and implementing
alternatives across the city.
The symposium produced a resolution that acknowledged the advantages
of alternatives, and called for replacement of harmful animal use and
recognition of a student’s right to conscientiously object. The
resolution also called for alternatives to be produced with a
facility for easy translation, and for the creation of more Ukrainian
and Russian language alternatives, in response to the current
limitations of many software and video alternatives which are
produced only in English.
Following this series of events, InterNICHE held a one-day ‘Seminar
and Training in Alternatives in Education’ on 8 October at the
Department of Physiology of Kharkiv Medical University. Keynote
speakers at the seminar were heads of department Mykola Makarchuk and
Valerij Samokhvalov, who are pioneers in modernising physiology
education in Kyiv and Kharkiv respectively. Both have fully replaced
the animal experiments with multimedia software, videos and student
self-experimentation, with practical support from the RSPCA and
InterNICHE (see Appendix for full names of organisations). Seminar
participants also received training in use of a range of alternatives
from the RSPCA/InterNICHE Ukraine Alternatives Library. Promoted
through one-to-one contact with individual teachers, and complemented
by donations of alternatives to a range of institutes, this library
has already brought about some direct replacement in several
departments in Kharkiv. It has also created a student choice option
there for conscientiously objecting students of some disciplines to
be able to learn using alternatives only.
Anya Yushchenko will now begin nationwide distribution from Kharkiv
of printed, video and software resources and attend exhibitions at
scientific conferences across the country to further promote the
Alternatives Library and the message of replacement. InterNICHE
resources are available in both Russian and Ukrainian languages, to
reflect the cultural diversity of the country. Promotion of
alternatives also continues through the work of the Society for the
Protection of Animals ‘SOS’ in Kyiv.
Moscow presentations
Moving to Moscow, InterNICHE-Russia organised major presentations at
several institutes in the city. Many new connections with institutes
have developed in recent years, facilitated by the distribution of
new printed resources, through a presence at the Annual International
Veterinary Congress - a predominantly Russian and ex-Soviet gathering
of several thousand delegates in Moscow - and through the launch of
the Russian micro-Loan System. This small library of alternatives
allows free borrowing of items by teachers across Russia, subject to
strict guarantees, and has provided a crucially important resource
for the InterNICHE volunteers to offer to institutes and to progress
implementation.
Similar to the Ukrainian resource, the Russian micro-Loan System is
one of several seed projects of the much larger international
Alternatives Loan System, set up with support of Proefdiervrij to
enable borrowers to familiarise themselves with the diversity and
quality of existing alternatives, and to trial individual products.
Co-ordinated by Monika Percic from Slovenia, this project has made
over 200 loans to 40 countries since the end of 2001, comprising over
4000 usages of individual alternatives. The success of this powerful
international resource is mirrored in the Russian micro-Loan System
and its sister project in the Ukraine, which illustrate how much can
be done with seed funding to support small-scale but highly effective
and sustainable projects that are designed to facilitate real
replacement of harmful animal use.
A presentation to over 100 students and teachers at the Veterinary
Department of Moscow Academy of Applied Biotechnology was followed by
demonstrations of alternatives and a lively discussion on the issue,
with a majority in support for alternatives but also the one
predictable invocation of Ivan Pavlov’s ‘great’ work. In favour of
newer approaches, the students clearly want to learn, and were aware
that alternatives can help them in that process. The spirit of the
day also included much spontaneity, which in itself is progressive
and exciting after decades of disempowerment and ideological pressure
against individual action, and impromptu meetings happened with heads
of department and with the dean.
In the Department of Clinical Diagnostics, clinical skills were being
practiced on one cow, but this was very stressful and exhausting for
her. After 8 years, therefore, she was retired, eaten and replaced
with a younger cow. New arrival Milka seemed happy enough in her
stall, although presumably not when she was being repeatedly
rectalised and facing years of such student practice. Teachers had
also filmed some clinical skills work, using personal funds, in order
to use the videos for training. Further clinical skills and surgery
alternatives, and those for zoology, are now required. By the end of
the meetings, items from the micro-Loan System were re-borrowed, with
the presentation having helped teachers to see alternatives ‘with new
eyes’ and increased enthusiasm.
As with all institutes, there are differing degrees of autonomy at
each department or faculty with respect to curricular change, so
while some can easily change the practical courses, others require
initiative or approval from the rector (which may take years) or even
a change in the government-approved curriculum (which may take
decades). Head of the Department of Clinical Diagnostics, Tatiana
Elisarova, is able to make some autonomous decisions, and is aware of
the importance of animal welfare. The potential for implementing
alternatives in one or more departments is therefore high.
InterNICHE presentations in Moscow also took place at the Veterinary
Faculty of the Russian State Friendship University, where two student
conscientious objectors and many overseas students are studying; and
at a medical high school, where students introduced the afternoon by
reading poetry about the spirit of animals, compassion, and the human-
animal bond.
Resources and demonstrations
At all InterNICHE events there was widespread distribution of the
first Russian-language booklet on alternatives, funded by FFVFF and
IAAPEA and published in 2004 by InterNICHE-Russia and VITA, a general
animal protection group established during the late 1990s. The
publication features experiences and testimonies from Russian and
Ukrainian students and teachers. The Russian text of the InterNICHE
book ‘from Guinea Pig to Computer Mouse’ (2nd ed., 2003) was also
distributed, along with news of the 2005 InterNICHE Humane Education
Award. Supported by Proefdiervrij, this worldwide grant program of
20,000 Euro is to facilitate the development or purchase of
replacement alternatives. Russian and Ukrainian institutes were
encouraged to apply: with almost no translated alternatives
available, developing new software and videos could have significant
potential for replacement by virtue of using the native languages and
being designed specifically for the local curricula.
Teachers at the demonstrations were also shown draft Russian versions
of two freeware alternatives, the translations sponsored by WSPA with
a view to supporting the creation of a new generation of animal
welfare friendly veterinarians and other professionals. The ‘CAL
Pharmacology Compilation’ software from Ramasamy Raveendran of
JIPMER, Pondicherry, India, and the ‘Physiology Simulators’ software
from Gabriel Cotor of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in
Bucuresti, Romania, will be widely distributed across Russia and
Ukraine upon completion. The English versions were widely distributed
during the outreach. Other alternatives demonstrated included
‘ProDissector Frog’ from the Schneider & Morse Group, and a range of
simulators and training mannekins such as ‘Critical Care Jerry’ from
Rescue Critters.
Battle for alternatives
While the introduction of alternatives can obviate potential problems
between student and establishment, a battle continues at Moscow State
University. Conscientious objector Roman Beloysov, a biology student
with top grades, faces expulsion since challenging the university by
openly criticising harmful animal use and requesting alternatives.
For Roman, the problems are not so much with biology but with
relevant Russian law and regulations, which either do not exist or
have no power. Using what regulations there are, and quoting from the
University’s own regulations and from Soviet regulations still in
force, he accuses the teachers of failing to adhere to their own
commitments in terms of quality and nature of teaching. Roman is
calling for humane alternatives - just for himself, and using his own
money - and his right to an individual ‘plan of study’.
Some teachers are furious at his challenge to the orthodoxy,
complaining that ‘alternatives and bioethics are causing nothing but
problems.’ Although one alternative practical employing plant
material rather than animal tissue was mutually agreed and
successfully conducted, the physiology practicals from 2004 onwards
have been major obstacles. Refusing to compromise - for example by
rejecting offers to observe but not participate in experiments -
Roman has been blocked from taking exams. He has also been told that
he is no longer a student at the university - followed later by
confirmation that he is after all.
Although the University is keen to avoid a scandal, a popular TV chat
show has already featured his case, following a 2004 press conference
organised by InterNICHE-Russia. And at a live studio interview with
the rector in September 2005, the first phone call from the public
was about alternatives. Many students and some of the general public
in Moscow and further afield are therefore aware of the situation,
even if Roman’s style of challenge is not the same as theirs. Roman
is now threatening legal action, using a civil rights approach,
against the University.
Meanwhile, Russia’s first Animal Liberation Front (ALF) actions have
liberated animals from the University itself. This has hindered the
existing campaign for change, and anyone who even mentions support
for alternatives may now be suspected of involvement in the action.
Even the progressive bioethics course introduced by biology teacher
Anatoly Lukianov is now under threat. Roman is now trying to take an
optional ‘academic holiday’ - a year away from studies - but if not
allowed this he may be forced into military service. InterNICHE will
continue to try to negotiate and to convince the rector and others of
the opportunities for a win-win solution to the problem.
Russian law
Russia has no animal welfare law. The Criminal Code addresses cruelty
to animals, but in general only regarding companion animals.
Endangered species are protected from extinction, but not from
cruelty. A progressive draft ‘Federal Law for the Protection of
Animals’, which addressed animal experimentation, was rejected by
President Vladimir Putin in 2000 having been influenced by teachers
and researchers at the Department of Biology at Moscow State
University who feared their ‘freedom’ would be curtailed. The
parliamentary deputies are still considering the law five years
later.
The government department ‘Fauna’, a new department that deals only
with animal protection issues, made a similar draft animal protection
law in 2000, just for Moscow. With InterNICHE and VITA petitioning,
one draft also addressed animal experimentation and called for the
use of alternatives in education, research and testing. After a
series of rejections, however, the latest draft now focuses mostly on
stray animals.
In 1978 the first legislative document to address animal
experimentation in education, research and testing was issued by the
Ministry of Agriculture (and signed by the Minister of Health). The
‘Rules on carrying out work with the use of laboratory animals’ of 31
July 1978 call for limited refinement, addressing euthanasia and
calling for sufficient use of anaesthetic for painful or other severe
experiments. Between 1978 and 2005, three ‘Recommendation Letters’
have been sent to institutes by the Department of Education at the
Ministry of Agriculture, with reference to the 1978 rules and
applying to education and postgraduate research only. The
Recommendation Letters again call for limited refinement, but also
for the abolition of a number of severe experiments. The 2005
Recommendation Letter, described below, superseded all others and has
the most power, although along with the 1978 legislative document has
few sanctions if not followed.
Recommendation Letter number 13032/358, ‘About modern alternatives to
the use of animals in the educational process’ of 22 February 2005,
states that the 1978 rules about performing experiments should be
followed. It lists 21 ‘inhumane’ (their term) experiments that should
be abolished - 14 from pathophysiology, 5 from physiology and 2 from
pharmacology - which include freezing, heating and electrocution
experiments. It forbids the decapitation or destruction of the spinal
cord of frogs without the use of anaesthetic, and states that
‘appropriate termination of an experiment’ must be done (the likely
interpretation being that the killing of animals after experiments
must be done only when they are unconscious). Finally, it recommends
that computer-assisted learning should be introduced, and refers to
software developed by the State Veterinary Academy in Moscow.
Teachers in many institutes are, however, unaware of the 2005
Recommendation Letter, and those who are may choose not to follow it.
Similar recommendations have been made before, with many experiments
continuing, so limited or poor implementation is likely. There are
also contradictions in the document, and room for interpretation of
the text. For example, ‘inhumane’ is explained as ‘without
anaesthetic’, perhaps leaving open the possibility to perform
inhumane experiments as long as anaesthetic is used. At least in St
Petersburg, one pathophysiology department that the InterNICHE team
visited had received and acted on its recommendations, abolishing
some of its severe experiments.
Replacement in St Petersburg
In the old imperial city of St Petersburg in north-western Russia,
the State Academy of Veterinary Medicine evolved from the animal
divisions of the tsar’s military units. It was the root of veterinary
medicine that later grew right across Russia. Today, in the
historical buildings, the departments struggle for funds to cover
even basic needs. Often the animals, and the needed drugs and
equipment, are no longer affordable.
Teachers have begun to use other approaches, including alternatives,
to try to maintain the quality of the education. In the Department of
Pharmacology, through the efforts of teacher Tatyana Novosaduk and
head of department Vladimir Sokolov, harmful animal use has already
been halved in recent years through the use of basic charts and
drawings, and clinical learning opportunities. This flexibility and
creativity in terms of approach has been supported by the rector.
Conventional teaching has also been combined with holistic approaches
that can be useful for veterinary medicine, such as phytotherapy and
homoeopathy.
Arriving from Moscow in a train compartment crammed full of
secondhand computers, and preparing for the purchase of 15 new
systems, the InterNICHE team made the first delivery of hardware to
the Department of Pharmacology at the Academy. The donations,
sponsored by IAAPEA, are part of a signed agreement that the
department will not use any animals for students or for postgraduate
research. The introduction of computers will contribute to a higher
quality education for the students, and validates the work of
progressive teachers. It also supports a department that already has
a good reputation, and the prestige of international collaboration
can also benefit the whole Academy.
Using freeware and other donated alternatives, one of the remaining
practicals on animals in the department - anaesthesia of the rat -
was replaced during the visit itself. The others will follow soon.
With approximately 1000 animals originally used per year, the
departmental use of animals in education was therefore reduced to
zero. The Academy then became the joint first institute in Russia to
replace 100% of experiments in a department, and to implement
alternatives as part of a broader process of reform.
A meeting with the vice-rector included a discussion about strategies
to ‘centralise’ the shift to alternatives through building a network
of users who could lobby the Ministry of Agriculture to take action.
Others at the Academy, including anatomists and physiologists, were
also expressing an interest in alternatives. Even in pathophysiology,
a discipline that almost invariably involves severe experiments, some
reduction had already occurred due to student complaints, and videos
made at another institute had been introduced. Some practical classes
listed in the pathophysiology curriculum, however, involve severe
experiments such as heating animals that need not replacement but
abolition, due to their lack of pedagogical value and their proximity
to sadistic practice. Nevertheless, animals in the Academy suffered
worse experiments many years ago, according to campaigner Tatyana
Pavlova from the Centre for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (CETA).
‘It was impossible even to talk about animal protection or
alternatives then. Times have really changed.’
Velikie Luki
Fifteen hours by train from St Petersburg is the small city of
Velikie Luki. The Agricultural Academy there trains students who plan
to enter the field of ‘animal production’, such as farming. Although
the students become animal technicians rather than qualified
veterinarians after graduation from this course, they are
nevertheless equipped with some veterinary skills, and particularly
in small cities and towns some do practice.
With a clear commitment to the students and teachers from the new
rector and pro-rector, the Academy had renovated buildings and
provided a good library, computer labs and even small-scale internet
access for students. An interest in alternative tools and approaches
within the Faculty of Animal Production Technology is another result
of the decision to modernise the Academy and its teaching. Such
modernisation, combined with international collaboration, may also
stand the Academy in good stead in terms of government assessment.
This new direction for the Faculty had already brought some
significant reduction: the vivarium, for example, is now a veterinary
clinic, with the bath formerly used for keeping frogs now empty.
Students can instead observe and assist in operations on animal
patients, gaining experience in a more realistic environment - one
that facilitates skills acquisition in a way that is more appropriate
for a career with animals.
The implementation of alternatives has been supported by the
opportunity for teachers to trial a number of high quality
alternatives from the Russian micro-Loan System, and by donations
made by InterNICHE. Feedback on the alternatives was already very
positive. One physiology teacher had been using frogs for 40 years
but said she would now give that up and replace them with multimedia
software. She asserted that the programs are far better for teaching
anatomy and physiology than frog experiments, and include elements
that cannot be shown at all on a dead or a living frog. There was
also significant interest in clinical skills and surgery simulators
at the Faculty, and a recognition by all of the need to train the
teachers in using the alternatives and the computers to ensure
effective implementation.
During the InterNICHE presentation and demonstrations, pro-rector of
the Faculty, Farhat Suleimanov, confirmed the complete cessation of
harmful animal use in education from September 2005, including the
replacement of up to 500 frogs that were used annually in severe
physiology experiments. Along with St Petersburg, the Academy
therefore became the joint first Russian institute to confirm in
public that it gives up animal experimentation and the dissection of
killed animals - in this case in a whole faculty. And it may be
possible for the Academy’s future Veterinary Department, currently on
the drawing board, to be completely free of harmful animal use too,
particularly as the advantages of alternatives will be even clearer
from many semesters’ use.
Reflecting the Faculty’s open-minded approach, access to the events
had also been provided to biology teachers from local high schools.
The donated alternatives will also be made available, thereby helping
to prepare high school students both academically and ethically for
entering tertiary education.
Issues for implementation
An interest in alternatives evidences a commitment to students and to
the quality of learning. Resistance to alternatives in ex-Soviet
countries, therefore, may be partly understood by looking at the
nature of the student-teacher relationship and the priorities of the
teachers. While these have certainly changed over the last decade, in
some departments students may be treated as little more than
servants. Those with low marks may still be required to catch frogs
from the wild so that they can be used in experiments, a tradition
common across Russia. And to enter prestigious universities and to
study medicine, veterinary medicine, languages and law, personal
connections or bribes are often necessary (except for veterinary
students from the regions, where there is a shortage of trained
professionals).
Change is still very difficult to achieve in many institutes in ex-
Soviet countries, but in the words of one Ukrainian campaigner, and
as this report demonstrates, ‘the ice is moving’. Often, the
progressive views of a new (perhaps younger) head of department, or
the replacement of a corrupt senior official, may be the catalyst.
And a growing minority of ordinary teachers are willing to take risks
by stepping out of line to call for new approaches, including
alternatives. Echoing the implementation of many alternatives in the
west following increased student protest and developments in
technology, the impact of perestroika and glasnost meant that the
resistance to change softened in at least some areas from the early
1990’s. Before that, according to Valerij Samokhvalov from Ukraine,
‘you’d have things thrown at you for suggesting something different.’
And not long before that, you wouldn’t suggest anything different at
all.
In general, when institutes face major funding challenges - as most
in Russia and Ukraine do today - then departments significantly
reduce animal use. This funding vacuum and ‘shortage’ of animals
provide major opportunities for the establishment of progressive,
alternative teaching approaches. Providing resources to teachers to
facilitate the implementation of alternatives, and supporting the
production of low-cost Russian and Ukrainian language alternatives
themselves, is therefore crucially important. The positive impact of
this investment in education will in turn limit the possibilities of
a return to out-of-date, inhumane methods if funding ever returned.
Media coverage
One of the features of the outreach was the extensive and positive
media coverage. A major InterNICHE press conference on alternatives
held in Moscow on 17 October was covered by newspapers, agencies and
4 TV news channels, some reaching all of Russia, Ukraine and other ex-
Soviet republics. A similar press conference in St Petersburg was
also very successful, with an unprecedented interest from the
journalists. At this event, the head of the Department of
Pharmacology at St Petersburg State Academy of Veterinary Medicine,
Vladimir Sokolov, reported on his decision to end all animal
experiments at his department. He also called for a third way in
teaching students: no longer the conventional Russian approach of
‘beating and rewarding’, but instead evoking real interest. ‘The more
enthusiasm the students show, the better they learn the subject’, he
said, adding that after the InterNICHE presentation at the Academy
students were impatient to use the alternatives and asked when they
would be available.
A transformation in the style of reporting about alternatives was
apparent in the media. The typical message from the media for the
issue - if covered at all - could be paraphrased as ‘The experiments
are cruel and there are alternatives, but what can we do?’ Instead,
the message from many of the reports was practical and optimistic
with regard to change. The fact that there are now Russian and
Ukrainian initiatives to break from the orthodoxy and to try new
approaches made the issue newsworthy. The media success also
reflected the many resources that have been made available to support
replacement, the empowerment of the campaigners, and the strength of
the alternatives message. The latter is supported by the clear
multiple positive impact of replacement with alternatives -
pedagogical, ethical and economic - and the excitement of being able
to apply new technology to the learning process.
The impact of media coverage on the general public can be illustrated
by the words of the train conductor on the Kyiv-Moscow train,
following nationwide TV coverage of the Bioethics Symposium in
Ukraine. Seeing the InterNICHE team practicing intubation on Critical
Care Jerry, he announced, ‘I know that dog - I saw him on TV.’ Later,
Jerry visited Red Square for a photo shoot and some impromptu
demonstrations of his skills to the public before leaving Moscow for
St Petersburg.
Empowerment
Another achievement of the outreach was the empowerment of active
students and campaigners after InterNICHE facilitated meetings
between them and gave opportunities for them to engage in the
international activity. This is important because of the relatively
small number of campaigners and student conscientious objectors
within Russia and Ukraine, and the absence or infrequency of
international contacts. A small team from Moscow, including two
veterinary student conscientious objectors and a computer expert
working on alternatives, travelled to Kharkiv to participate in the
InterNICHE Seminar and Training. This also gave the team the
opportunity to meet progressive Ukrainian teachers such as Mykola
Makarchuk and Valerij Samokhvalov, and to network with others in the
field. InterNICHE then supported a Ukrainian student, Dmitry
Leporsky, to travel to Moscow to meet others who are conscientiously
objecting, or researching bioethics and animal rights. He was also
invited to contribute at several InterNICHE presentations by giving
demonstrations of alternatives, and by describing the progress of the
draft animal protection law in Ukraine. Participating with
responsibilities such as these can build an individual’s capacity and
lift his status, thereby supporting more effective action for humane
education.
Summary
The InterNICHE outreach to Russia and Ukraine produced a number of
positive results: presentations, demonstrations and training in
alternatives to over 500 teachers and students; agreements at two
institutes to replace harmful animal use in education across a whole
department and faculty respectively; information gathering, and
discussions with teachers about potential future replacement;
reaching a massive audience through positive media coverage; and
empowerment of campaigners, including InterNICHE National Contacts
who successfully organised the majority of the activity.
To continue the successes, funds to enlarge the Russian micro-Loan
System and to make donations of alternatives to institutes are
urgently needed. Support for broadening the InterNICHE impact across
Ukraine, Russia and central Asian republics through the distribution
of translated literature, video, freeware alternatives and web-based
resources is also required. Such activity not only supports the
development of a progressive, humane education, but impacts
positively on animal use in research and testing by creating an
environment more conducive to alternatives in general. This is
important now as animal testing laboratories consider relocating in
or sub-contracting to ex-Soviet countries and in Asia. New InterNICHE
connections have already been made with Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Kyrgyzstan, and there are many open doors.
Nick Jukes
Co-ordinator, InterNICHE
www.interniche.org
Appendix
CETA (Centre for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
FFVFF (Fund for Animal-Free Research)
IAAPEA (International Association Against Painful Experiments on
Animals)
InterNICHE (International Network for Humane Education)
RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)
WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals)
|
