Medical Schools Replace Animal Labs
 With the help of our members, PCRM is winning the campaign to
end the use of live animals in medical school education. In 2005,
we confirmed that eight more medical schools have replaced these
inhumane courses with more effective teaching methods.
Twenty years ago, live dogs were commonly used in physiology,
pharmacology, and surgery labs at medical schools. The animals
were killed after the lab exercises were over. As PCRM helped bring
this practice to light, some schools switched to using pigs, ferrets,
or other animals in an effort to lessen public scrutiny and criticism.
But most schools eliminated the practice altogether.
Recent Victories
In 2005, PCRM was able to verify that schools across the country
have eliminated animal labs or are moving away from their use:
- Howard University and Brown University confirmed in writing
that their schools of medicine no longer use live animals.
- Northeastern Ohio College of Medicine also assures us that
it no longer uses live animals.
- The surgery department of the University of Texas, San Antonio,
has abandoned three live animal labs involving goats.
- Four more osteopathic medical schools, including the Chicago
College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University, have
confirmed that they have eliminated their live animal labs. Only
two of the 20 U.S. osteopathic schools continue to offer live
animal laboratories.
Today, more than 80 percent of medical schools in the United States
have eliminated live animal laboratories from their curricula.
How You Can Help
Unfortunately, a small percentage of U.S. medical schools continue
to use animals in such courses. To end this outdated and inhumane
practice for good, we need your help.
Please contact medical schools that are still using live animal
labs. Write polite letters expressing your opposition to this practice.
See a sample
letter here. For
contact information, please consult our list
of medical schools and list of osteopathic
medical schools that still offer live animal labs.
If you are a medical student, faculty member, or alumnus of a
medical school on these lists, your help will be especially valuable.
For more information, please contact Allison George at ageorge@pcrm.org or
202-686-2210, ext 369.
PCRM Online,
December 2005
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