XPost: can.general, soc.culture.canada   
   From: abc@123.cl   
      
   U.S. doctors protest Canadian medical schools killing live pigs   
      
      
   By Tiffany Crawford August 27, 2009   
      
      
   The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine plans to file a   
   complaint early next week with the Canadian Council on Animal Care   
   against the University of Saskatchewan for using and killing live pigs   
   in the course of teaching doctors how to treat medical trauma cases.   
   Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., also uses live pigs in its trauma   
   training.   
      
   The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine plans to file a   
   complaint early next week with the Canadian Council on Animal Care   
   against the University of Saskatchewan for using and killing live pigs   
   in the course of teaching doctors how to treat medical trauma cases.   
   Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., also uses live pigs in its trauma   
   training.   
   Photograph by: Tim Sloan, AFP/Getty Images   
      
   OTTAWA — Two Canadian medical schools are under fire from a Washington   
   -based physicians' group for using and killing live pigs in the course   
   of teaching doctors how to treat medical trauma cases.   
      
   The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine plans to file a   
   complaint early next week with the Canadian Council on Animal Care   
   against the University of Saskatchewan. The letter, to be sent Sept. 2,   
   urges officials to end the use of pigs in upcoming trauma training   
   courses, scheduled for Sept. 3 through 5.   
      
   A University of Saskatchewan spokeswoman said late Thursday, that the   
   program intends to abandon the use of live animals in favour of   
   simulators.   
      
   "It's my understanding that the director of the program Dr. Paul Hayes   
   has purchased a (simulator) and plans to use it to teach classes," said   
   Kathryn Warden, director of research communications.   
      
   Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., also uses live pigs in its trauma   
   training. A spokesman for the physicians committee, Dr. John Pippin,   
   said they're waiting to hear back from Queen's. Several letters to the   
   University of Saskatchewan from the committee went unanswered,   
   prompting the complaint, said Pippin.   
      
   He said 95 per cent of Canadian and U.S. facilities providing Advanced   
   Trauma Life Support training use cadavers or lifelike human patient   
   models instead of animals. The course trains medical students how to   
   respond to patients suffering from acute trauma.   
      
   Out of 191 medical schools and hospitals across North America surveyed   
   by the committee, only the two Canadian institutions and eight American   
   medical schools reported no immediate plans to abandon the use of live   
   animals, said Pippin.   
      
   The trauma training at the two universities involves repeatedly   
   inserting tubes and needles into the abdomens and chest cavities of   
   pigs, said Pippin.   
      
   He said the animals' throats are cut open multiple times per session.   
      
   "They are transported and kept confined and manipulated before, which   
   is very fearful for them," he said. "They can also receive pain and   
   suffering during the procedure."   
      
   Although the animals are anesthetized during the procedures, he said   
   they are subjected to the trauma of confinement and manipulation before   
   being killed when the training session ends.   
      
   It's also a human safety issue — human simulators provide students with   
   a more accurate representation of human anatomy, said Pippin.   
      
   "Regardless of where people stand on the issue of ethical treatment to   
   animals, the accumulated evidence is so overwhelming and favours the   
   use of simulators that mimic human anatomy," he said.   
      
   "When you learn on animals, you make mistakes on people. Really, the   
   university doesn't have a leg to stand on to continue to use pigs when   
   nearly everyone else has simulators."   
      
   Sunnybrook Health Centre in Toronto was on the list of institutions   
   that used animals but this year switched to human simulators. Also, the   
   University of Ottawa has written a letter to the committee promising to   
   switch by next year.   
      
   Pippin said the group sent three letters to Dr. Paul Hayes, the head of   
   the trauma training program at University of Saskatchewan, but has   
   received no response.   
      
   University of Saskatchewan Dean of Medicine Dr. William Albritton said   
   the ATLS program is run by Hayes, who is an independent physician and   
   not a university employee. However, the courses are conducted using   
   facilities at the school.   
      
   Pippin would not speculate on the reasons why the two universities have   
   not switched, but said often, some schools won't switch because the   
   instructor is only trained to use the live animals.   
      
   The American College of Surgeons, which determines standards for the   
   trauma courses, has endorsed the human simulators since 2001.   
      
   The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a non-profit   
   health organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts   
   clinical research and encourages higher standards for ethics and   
   effectiveness in research and education.   
      
   The Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines state: "painful   
   experiments or multiple invasive procedures on an individual animal,   
   conducted solely for the instruction of students in the classroom, or   
   for the demonstration of established scientific knowledge, cannot be   
   justified."   
      
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