Medical Ethics Group Seeks Federal Investigation of WMed, Charles River for Using Animals to Train Doctors

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—With a federal complaint and billboards, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a national medical ethics nonprofit, is determined to see WMed stop using animals to train doctors. The Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine sends emergency medicine residents to Charles River Laboratories in Mattawan to perform invasive procedures on live pigs before killing the animals, a practice ended by the 24 other accredited programs in the state.

In a complaint filed this morning with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Physicians Committee points out that WMed residents force open pigs’ ribs, make incisions near their eyes, and cut open the animals’ throats. While the pigs are supposed to be unconscious, the nonprofit cites evidence from the University of Michigan that pigs are difficult to keep under anesthesia. The complaint also explains that emergency medicine programs run by Harvard, the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, and hundreds of other institutions across the United States and Canada instead use devices modeled on human anatomy, called simulators, that include lifelike skin, muscle, fat, and blood vessels. Simulators ensure that physicians will not have to eventually adapt procedures practiced on a pig to a human patient. According to the Physicians Committee, the availability of these devices and the scientific support for them means that WMed and Charles River are violating the federal Animal Welfare Act.

In addition to the complaint, the Physicians Committee has installed four billboards across downtown Kalamazoo near WMed’s campus that feature a curious pig looking directly at viewers with the message, “WMed: Patients Aren’t Pigs! Stop Killing Animals to ‘Teach’ Doctors. PCRM.org/WMed.”

“Almost every other medical school agrees it’s backwards to use animals to teach emergency procedures,” says Jennifer Giordano, DO, of Bloomfield Hills. “When every second counts, doctors shouldn’t have to adapt pig anatomy to the patient lying in front of them.”

Compared to humans, pigs have smaller torsos, lighter limbs, and thicker skin. There are also important differences in the anatomy of the head and neck, internal organs, rib cage, blood vessels, and the airway.  WMed’s simulation center has devices that are, according to the medical school’s website, a “sufficiently realistic representation of a person” and could be used to replace animals.

Scientific studies confirm that simulators are equal or superior to animals for teaching emergency procedures. Research from Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Army, and elsewhere demonstrates that simulators effectively replicate real-world stress and improve performance, rendering animals unnecessary.

For a copy of the complaint or the billboard artwork and locations, please contact Reina Pohl at 202-527-7326 or rpohl [at] pcrm.org (rpohl[at]pcrm[dot]org).