COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) will join with two prominent physicians, and a wheelchair-bound Ohio man to call on Ohio State University to cancel its controversial Spinal Cord Injury Techniques Course. Sometimes called “Cruelty 101,” the course requires students to expose the spinal columns of mice and rats and drop heavy weights on them in a futile attempt to imitate human spinal cord injuries and paralyses. Over the three-week course (July 10-30), 270 mice and rats will be injured and put through other painful surgeries and invasive procedures before being killed. PCRM filed suit in April in the Ohio Supreme Court seeking to force OSU to produce videotapes and other documents relating to the course and initiated an investigation by the National Institutes of Health into possible animal welfare violations by the university.

WHO:

Richard Sorgen, M.D., is a bioethicist and an Arizona-based radiologist with more than 20 years experience in his field.

Robin Russell is the Director of Protecting Our Earth's Treasures (POET), Ohio's largest animal rights organization

Mindy Kursban, Esq., is the Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine