As she gears up for the final season of her überpopular hit show The Big Bang Theory, actor, mother, and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik has sent a letter on PETA's behalf to California lawmakers urging them to vote YES on Assembly Bill 1586 — the PETA-cosponsored Replacing Animals in Science Education (RAISE) Act—which would leave animal dissection out of the state’s K–12 classrooms.
“No medical schools in the U.S. or Canada use animals for their undergraduate medical education programs. If animal dissection isn’t necessary to become a board-certified physician, it certainly isn’t needed for K–12 science classes,” writes Bialik, who has a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of California–Los Angeles. “Passage of this bill would be a win for science, students, animals, and the state of California.”
Every year, more than 10 million animals are dissected in secondary school classrooms, even though studies have repeatedly shown that virtual dissection is more effective in teaching biology than cutting up dead animals is. Bialik’s letter went to each member of the Assembly Committee on Education, which is set to vote on the bill, also cosponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, this Wednesday.
