Science Youth Activities and Animal Experimentation

Science youth activities (extracurricular science activities) involve millions of young people at the elementary and secondary school level. Such activities are popular with young people and with teachers because they offer values different from those provided by classroom work and the required laboratory. National science youth activity programs include science fairs and the International Science and Engineering Fair, the Science Talent Search, and a number of other programs. For activities involving research, animals have been increasingly used because of the increased sophistication of the students doing the work. While some projects using vertebrates may be done poorly, it is suggested that these are a relatively small number, and that the good far outweighs the bad. Thus, the answer to improving the situation is education, not regulation