Delhi – Courtesy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, a Humane Science Award is on the way to the Mahatma Gandhi-Doerenkamp Centre (MGDC), based in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, for Alternatives to Use of Animals in Life Science Education. Coming just in time for National Science Day on 28 February, the award recognises the MGDC for, among other successful efforts, their monumental progress in pushing for humane legislation and reducing and eliminating animal testing via educational workshops for teachers, researchers, veterinarians and physicians.

“The exceptional strides made by the Mahatma Gandhi-Doerenkamp Centre are modernising research and preventing millions of animals from being cut up in classrooms”, says PETA Science Policy Adviser Dr Chaitanya Koduri. “PETA’s motto reads, in part, that ‘animals are not ours to experiment on’ – a philosophy that this group are making a reality by helping students use exclusively modern and humane research methods.”

In the past five years, the MGDC has sponsored more than 60 workshops at institutions across India, educating teachers at the high school through university levels on modern digital dissection simulations, which produce better results in the classroom than archaic animal-based methods. The group have also teamed up with PETA to push for changes in course curricula through the University Grants Commission and Medical Council of India, sparing the lives of millions of animals every year.

The MGDC has tackled high-level research as well, holding 17 intensive 10-day training sessions on cell culture techniques and in vitro technology, educating nearly 300 researchers and scientists on modern, animal-free methods. The MGDC’s work with SkinEthic Academy in France has also resulted in three workshops, helping to integrate 3-dimensional in vitro methods that take the place of animals in cosmetics tests.