Artificial Frogs For Dissection? Ask Medical Students In Florida!

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JW Mitchell High School in Florida, US has set an example by replacing live frogs with synthetic frogs to help students in dissecting and studying the amphibian. This initiative will help students in studying biology without harming any live animal. This way they will also stay away from the diseases and health hazards likely to happen after handling the carcass. This synthetic frog will be known as SynFrog after the name of the company SynDaver which creates synthetic human and animal models for medical students to practice the surgical simulation.

The idea of creating a synthetic frog came from two friends namely, Dr. Christopher Sakezleser, the Founder and CEO of SynDaver and Dr. David Danielson, a veterinarian. According to the school principal, the students won't feel uncomfortable in dissecting and handling the frog's gut.

The best part about this artificial frog is that the students can easily dissect the frog as there wouldn't be any chemicals like formalin present as in the case of a dead and preserved frog. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) supported the development of this SynFrog by giving funding of USD 150,000. This has actually helped in the processing of the artificial frogs. The cost of one SynFrog is USD 150 and the features are said to be quite better than that of a real frog.

If we talk about dissecting animals for medical study in India, the University Grant Commission has banned using dead or alive frogs or rats for the same purpose. For that reason, using real frogs for medical study purposes was somewhere affecting the population of frogs and hence it was decided that this should be banned.

We hope this will help in safeguarding the animals and in a better surgical practice of medical students.