Huge Banner for Students Heading to Class: “Med Students: Blow the Whistle on Cruelty, Report Animal Pain and Distress In Your Lab 1-888-6-TIP-USDA”

PORTLAND, Ore.—On the first day of the controversial live animal lab at the Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine (OHSU), doctors with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) will launch a new hotline for students to report any problems they observe during the lab. Approximately 20 live pigs will be used and then killed in a first year physiology/pharmacology course. Prior reports from medical schools have described how some animals have actually regained consciousness during painful procedures, due to insufficient anesthesia. Information about the hotline, 1-888-6-TIP-USDA, will be offered to students as they head to class on Friday.

“The Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine is one of the last schools in the country to use live animals for student training exercises. More than 90 percent of U.S. medical schools no longer use animals in such classes,” says John J. Pippin, M.D., F.A.C.C., a cardiologist affiliated with PCRM. “Live animal labs are educationally inferior, and they also raise serious humane concerns. I have personally witnessed an animal waking up during painful procedures due to insufficient anesthesia.”

WHO: PCRM senior medical adviser Dr. John J. Pippin and concerned Portland residents.

WHAT: Launch of whistleblower hotline with huge banner displayed for medical students as they head to class on the first day of the live animal lab.

WHEN: Friday, February 15, 7 to 8:15 a.m. and again at 11 a.m.

WHERE: Sidewalk near the parking lot entrance on SW Gibbs Street between SW 9th Ave. and SW U.S. Veterans Hospital Road. The OHSU Basic Sciences Building is nearby.

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research,and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research.