Pasco County School District in Florida is switching to the use of synthetic frogs for dissection in science class. The frogs were designed by SynDaver, who has been working on this technology for quite some time.
According to a press release, the synthetic female frog looks just like a real one and has skin, organs, a skeleton and muscles. Students at J.W. Mitchell High School had the chance to try them out recently. SynDaver says their patented synthetic tissues are made of water, fibers and salts. They are reuseable and chemical-free.
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Dr. Christopher Sakezles, founder and CEO of SynDaver said:
“SynFrog not only looks and feels like a real frog, it’s physically safer to dissect than a real preserved frog because it doesn’t contain potentially harmful chemicals like formalin. We commend Pasco County Schools for taking this monumental step to advance science education, and we want to thank PETA for their funding support, which helped with the initial development phase of the product and enabled us to deliver it faster than previously anticipated.”
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SynDaver received initial funding of $150,000 from PETA for research and development of the product. The animal rights organization applauded the school district for making the change. Shalin G. Gala, PETA’s vice president of International Laboratory Methods said:
“We look forward to schools around the world adopting this state-of-the-art technology that will not only save millions of frogs, but is a far more effective and safer teaching tool.”
