Keep Animals Out of the Line of Fire - No Military Testing on Animals!
- av: Care2
- mottagare: Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense
The U.S. has one of the most advanced militaries in the world, yet despite the availability of better alternatives, it continues archaic teaching and combat training methods involving brutal treatment of animals.
For example, the Army utilizes live, anesthetized pigs shot with high-powered rifles to simulate battlefield injuries in training their combat medics. And the military's only medical school also uses animals in its curriculum, despite the fact that the majority of all U.S. medical schools no longer require live animal labs.
Such animal suffering is unnecessary. Simulation systems can be used, making the use of animals in medical instruction obsolete. Prestigious medical schools such as Harvard, NYU and Case Western Reserve stopped requiring live animal labs in the training of future physicians, why hasn't the U.S. military?
Urge the Secretary of Defense and our military to adopt humane education and training policies that do not involve the suffering and death of animals. Proven alternatives are widely available!
Dear Dr. Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense,
I recently learned that the U.S. military is using animals such as pigs, ferrets and gerbils in surgical training procedures to simulate human trauma patients. This use of animals is cruel, archaic, and unnecessary. Superior alternatives are available that can train medical personnel without the use of animals. For example, the Combat Trauma Patient Simulation System, and the TraumaMan system can both be used to instruct students, while promoting compassion and respect for life at the same time.
In fact, the majority of medical schools in the U.S. do not require live animal labs to train future physicians. By stopping its use of animals in training procedures, the U.S. military would join the ranks of such prestigious medical schools as Harvard, New York University and Case Western Reserve.
[Your comment here]
Please spare the innocent victims of military training programs and steer the U.S. military towards adopting more humane policies.
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.
