New U.S. Medical Schools Will Teach Students Without Animals
According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), an estimated 90% of American medical schools have eliminated the use of live animal labs in teaching practices. Nine newer medical schools are being established, and will not use dogs or other live animals for instructional purposes.
Nine new medical schools being established around the U.S. to address the need for more physicians will not use dogs or other live animals to teach basic concepts in anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, or surgery, PCRM has recently learned. That news confirms a trend in U.S. medical education: 90% of American medical schools have eliminated live animal laboratories.
In recent history, live animals were commonly used in anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and surgery courses at medical schools. A standard laboratory exercise involved anesthetizing an animal, followed by dissection, injecting pharmaceuticals, or practicing surgical techniques. The animals were killed after the lab exercises were over.
But recently, the vast majority of medical schools have switched to more relevant and humane methods, such as lifelike simulators, interactive computer models, virtual reality programs, case reviews, standardized patient exams, and apprenticeships in clinics and hospitals. Every new school established in the past quarter-century has not used live animals in its curriculum. [Abstract excerpted from article]