Canadian military ‘actively’ seeking to end animal use in medical training
The Canadian military is “actively” looking for ways to end its use of animals in training battlefield doctors, Postmedia News has learned.
The disclosure by the Department of National Defence follows the publication of a study last week in the journal Military Medicine that showed only six out of 28 NATO countries, including Canada, continue to use animals such as pigs and goats to help military medical personnel train on treating amputation injuries and other major trauma, as well as exposure to chemical attacks.
“DND currently does use livetissue training to provide advanced military medical training for specific operational requirements,” said Marie-Hélène Brisson, a public relations officer with the Defence Research and Development Canada, the research arm of the Canadian Forces.
“However, the department is actively investigating alternate approaches to training health-care professionals, while at the same time, ensuring we continue to save lives on the battlefield.”
Canada’s military “strictly adheres to the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care which establishes the ethical use and care of animals,” Brisson added. “We actively work with leading international experts to assess and
“These efforts ultimately ensure that CF men and women return home safely.” DEFENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CANADA SPOKESPERSON
validate the effectiveness of simulation technologies in an effort to minimize and eliminate, wherever possible, the use of animals in training.”
The U.S. authors of the Military Medicine study concluded that in Canada and the five other countries still using live animals to train army doctors — the U.S., Norway, Denmark, Poland and Britain — “further scrutiny is needed by military leadership and civilian policy-makers to determine what opportunities exist to replace animal use with other methods.”
The six countries use animals primarily in training battlefield physicians to treat “penetrating injuries, gunshot wounds and amputation hemorrhaging,” as well as injuries suffered from exposure to chemical agents, the report stated.
The study was produced by researchers Shalin Gala and Justin Goodman from the animal-welfare organization PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, along with Maj. Michael Murphy from the Indiana University School of Medicine and Marion Balsam, former commander of Virginia’s Naval Medical Centre Portsmouth.
“Growing public concern for animal welfare, advances in computerized medical simulation technology, educational considerations and economic barriers have drawn a critical eye to animal use in military medical training,” the U.S. research team stated.
Goodman, associate director of PETA’s laboratory investigations department and a sociologist with Virginia’s Marymount University, told Postmedia News that “Canadian federal animal-welfare guidelines require that alternatives to animal use be used whenever available.”
Goodman told Postmedia News that animals are used for medical training at Alberta’s DRDC Suffield, a Canadian Forces research and development centre in southern Alberta.
“In addition to the surgical trauma course in Canada, some trainees are also sent to (DRDC Suffield) to take part in a ‘live agent training’ course in which pigs are exposed to nerve agents like sarin and mustard gas,’ ” Goodman said.
“The animals suffer seizures, irregular heartbeats, difficulty breathing, bleeding and possibly even death.”
In DND’s response on Thursday, Brisson said that Canadian Forces personnel are expected to operate in life-threatening and hazardous environments such as those caused by natural disasters, and acts of war and terrorism. “They play a critical role safeguarding citizens, the environment, as well as major infrastructure, and respond with the expectation that they have access to the best training, equipment, and support necessary to carry out their missions successfully and safely.
“CF personnel put their health and lives on the line for Canada,” she added. “Therefore, DND continues to provide advanced specialists the highest calibre medical training possible. These efforts ultimately ensure that CF men and women return home safely, despite the level or nature of threat that they may encounter during operations.”