UPDATE: Victory for Monkeys as Army Agrees to End Live Chemical Casualty Exercise: After years of pressure from PCRM, on Oct. 13, 2011, the Army announced that it would phase out the use of monkeys for its chemical casualty management courses. The Army completed this transition in November 2011. Now, the Army makes further use of high-fidelity simulators and moulage—superior nonanimal alternatives that meet the needs of U.S. troops far better than the irrelevant monkey laboratory.

Current Training Methods

Chemical Casualty Management Training on Monkeys

Seizures, breathing difficulty, and possible death: The vervet monkeys used in the military’s chemical casualty management training experience these symptoms. The animals are given a toxic dose of the drug physostigmine in an exercise designed to simulate the effects of a nerve agent attack. The exercise—which takes place at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland—is demonstrated in the video below obtained by PCRM through the Freedom of Information Act. Using monkeys in this exercise distracts military personnel from the real-world, clinically valid training they need to treat chemical casualties.

Combat Trauma Training on Goats

The use of goats and pigs for combat trauma training, as demonstrated in the videos below, is suboptimal due to, among other issues, the animals’ anatomical and physiological differences from humans. Compared with humans, goats and pigs have smaller torsos and limbs, thicker skin, and important differences in anatomy of the head and neck, internal organs, rib cage, blood vessels, and airway. Many of these differences are demonstrated in this film for the Army Medical Department’s Tactical Combat Medical Care course. The instructor in the training film repeatedly references significant differences between training on live goats and human casualties.

Tube Thoracostomy with Chest Tube Insertion

Combat Application Tourniquet and Pressure Dressing