Ethics in Medical Education

Help End the Live Animal Labs at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

We need your help to end the live animal labs at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). Twenty years ago, live animals were commonly used in physiology, pharmacology, and surgery classes at medical schools. A standard lab involved anesthetizing the animal, followed by injecting pharmaceuticals or practicing surgical techniques. After the class, the animal was killed.

USUHS is the country’s only military medical school. There are at least four live animal labs at USUHS. According to the school’s Web site and other documents obtained by PCRM, they include:  

• A live pig lab offered to third-year medical students as part of a surgery rotation
• A physiology lab using live pigs, offered to first-year medical students
• An intubation lab using live ferrets offered to third-year medical students and pediatric residents in the National Capital Consortium Pediatric Residency
• A parasitology lab using live gerbils, offered to students as a means of studying the disease filariasis

A Department of Defense directive renewed in 2005 mandates that non-animal alternatives be used if they exist. There are many alternatives that USUHS could use to replace animals in each of these courses. In fact, the school has access to a variety of high-tech, non-animal teaching tools that simulate human physiology, anatomy, and disease through its National Capital Area Medical Simulation Center.

Please call, e-mail, fax, or write a letter to dean of the school of medicine Larry W. Laughlin, M.D., Ph.D., and USUHS president Charles L. Rice, M.D., and politely ask them to end the school’s live animal lab program. Being polite is the most effective way to help these animals. Send an automatic e-mail>

Charles L. Rice, M.D.
President, Uniformed Services University School of Medicine
4301 Jones Bridge Rd.
Bethesda, MD  20814-4799
Phone: 301-295-3013
Fax: 301- 295-1960
president@usuhs.edu

Larry W. Laughlin, M.D., Ph.D.
Dean, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Rd., Room A1010A
Bethesda, MD 20814-4799
Phone: 800-772-1743 or 301-295-3017
Fax: 301-295-3542
admissions@usuhs.mil

More than 90 percent of medical schools have eliminated live animal labs from their curricula altogether. Innovations in medical simulation technology, availability of alternatives, increased awareness of ethical concerns, and a growing acknowledgement that medical training must be human-focused have all facilitated this shift. Only 10 out of 154 allopathic and osteopathic medical schools in the United States still use live animals in their curricula.

Learn more about live animal labs and what you can do to help end them. If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Merkley at rmerkley@pcrm.org or 202-686-2210, ext. 336.

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