UGC Pulls Up Universities for Conducting Animal Autopsy Sans Registration
- UGC has issued notices to colleges that have been conducting animal dissection without registration with Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals.
- In 2014, universities were banned to do dissection of animals for academic purposes at both UG and PG levels.
The UGC (University Grants Commission) has imposed restrictions on some universities for conducting animal autopsy without registration. It is mandatory for the Universities to register with a committee as per the instructions of government for conducting animal dissection. In 2014, UGC had discontinued the practice of animal autopsy or dissection for studying its internal parts.
The move taken by UGC received wide criticism from field experts and academicians. They were of the opinion that discontinuing animal autopsy will reduce the practical exposure given to students and the move is nothing but turning Zoology into a dead discipline. The government of India constituted a separate committee, i.e., CPCSEA (Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals) for the same. Ministry of Environment and Forests is supervising CPCSEA and the registrations of establishments conducting animal experimentation are regulated by this authority.
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According to the latest notification issued by UGC, universities across the country running courses in Zoology and Life Sciences, which have facilities for the animal autopsy, are mandated to register themselves with CPCSEA. The universities registered under CPCSEA are bound to some rules and regulations.
However, many universities and establishments do not have the registration for animal dissection or animal research. Secretary of UGC has notified all the universities and affiliated colleges to make sure that they must be registered with CPCSEA.
The official notice issued by UGC in 2014 imposed a ban on animal autopsy or dissection for the academic purpose at both postgraduate and undergraduate level. UGC advised that non-animal methods such as interactive CD-ROMs, films, computer simulations and lifelike models to teach anatomy.