The Hopkins School of Medicine is one of only 10 medical schools in the country that still requires its students to perform surgery on live pigs, a practice that has garnered criticism from animal rights groups.
"[The animals] are treated remarkably well," explained Diana Scorpio, assistant professor and clinical veterinarian at Hopkins.
"They are under very deep anesthesia ... and then they are humanely euthanized."
Scorpio emphasized that very few of Hopkins's animals are used for medical instruction, and that the medical school has taken steps to reduce the number of animals used for teaching.
"Less than one percent is used in teaching and training ... 99 percent is used for research," she said.
The student-to-animal ratio is also geared toward minimizing the number of animals used.
There are usually four to five people per animal, according to Scorpio.
In defense of using live animals to instruct medical students, Scorpio stressed that students who have experience with live animals "are much more proficient at understanding anatomy, and how to manipulate tissue in surgery."
Philip Militello, assistant professor of the surgery at the University of Maryland, finds using human cadavers to be more advantageous.
"The anatomy of a cadaver is identical to a patient, while a dog's anatomical landmarks differ," he stated on the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Web site. "Over the years, it has become clear that students enjoy doing the procedures on a human cadaver specimen because of the identical scenarios, landmarks, and the hands-on experience. It mirrors the clinical scenario and is very well received."
In a December 2007 letter addressed to Dean Edward Miller of Hopkins's School of Medicine, Executive Director of the National Center for Animal Law Laura Ireland Moore expressed the organization's dismay at the University's use of live animals in medical training. Moore accused the medical school of bending if not breaking the law.
"The use of animals in classrooms violates the spirit and letter of the Federal Animal Welfare Act," Moore wrote. "In light of the availability of superior, non-animal alternative technologies in medical school education, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine arguably violates the principles set forth in the Animal Welfare Act by using pigs in its classrooms."
In her letter, Moore also pointed out that Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania and Duke "have determined that students earn at least equal, if not better, training without the use of live animals in the classroom."
George Goodno, the director of communications for the National Association for Biomedical Research in Washington, D.C., explained in greater detail what the Animal Welfare Act requires of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs).
"The Animal Welfare Act sets high standards of care for lab animals with regard to their housing, feeding, cleanliness, ventilation and medical needs. Most importantly, research institutions are required - by law - to establish an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee to oversee all work with animals," he said.
"IACUCs are carefully structured to include at least one non-affiliated layperson to represent the general community interest."
The Animal Care and Use Committee at Hopkins is an organization that "is designed to assure that it is in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act regulations and Public Health Service Policy," according to its Web site.
"We have an enrichment supervisor for all of the species that we have here," said Kinta Diven, senior training and compliance specialist for the Committee.
"We have a wide range of things that people do. There are 24-hour vets on call, and there are very specific rules and regulations."
Diven also explained that the animals, whether for medical instruction or research purposes, are anesthetized and unconscious during the procedures, and do not feel pain.
According to Goodno, there are significant legitimate reasons for using animals for research.
"There are striking similarities between the physiological systems of humans and various species of animals," he said.
Studies with mice have led to improved knowledge of the immune system, and studies with dogs have provided us with better understanding of the cardiovascular system, according to Goodno.
"In fact, virtually every major medical advance of the last century is due, in part, to research with animals," he said. "Finally, both U.S. and international laws require that all medical research be conducted on animals before humans."
There are other divisions within the University that actively promote using alternatives to animals whenever possible.
Hopkins's Bloomberg School of Public Health runs the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), which does not regulate the use and treatment of animals at Hopkins, but advocates the use of in vitro testing as an alternative to using animals.
The CAAT's Web site says that their goals are to promote the development of in vitro techniques, attempt to foster discussion among groups, provide reliable information and educate and train scientists in the application of alternatives.
Alan M. Goldberg, director and chairman of the Board at the CAAT, explained that "in vitro literally means 'in glass,' so it means taking cells with tissue pieces, growing them outside the body, and then doing the studies on those cells that grow from that innoculation."
Scorpio noted research that is performed on animals for the benefit of humans can be extremely helpful in the veterinary field.
"You have to remember that everything that's done in the medical field ultimately helps animals too," she said. "What's done in the human field immediately correlates to the veterinary field."
At the end of her letter, Moore urged the medical school to "immediately cease using live animals as teaching tools in order to comply with the terms of the Animal Welfare Act, to modernize your curricula and to be responsive to the mission and sentiments of your students."
A 2004 report by the Human Society estimated the University's animals to number 4349, among which was 820 pigs, commonly used for practice surgeries.
A recent report from the University, however, estimates it has "roughly 155,000" animals used for research and medical training.
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- Additional reporting by
Alexandra Watson
