Canadian medical schools end live animal labs

The Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) ended live animal use in a medical student laboratory. Every Canadian medical school now uses non-animal education methods.

Last month, MUN announced an end to its pig lab in an e-mail to PCRM. The animal lab became the subject of controversy after the university learned of PCRM’s plans to file a legal complaint with the Canadian Council on Animal Care arguing that the school’s use of live pigs violated federal guidelines.

All medical schools in Canada now teach students with modern non-animal educational methods, including human-patient simulators, such as those now in use at MUN. MUN’s move toward non-animal methods comes hard on the heels of similar announcements from medical institutions across North America.

“Canada has completely ended live animal labs, which should send a clear signal to the handful of US medical schools still clinging to these inhumane and educationally inferior procedures,” PCRM cardiologist John Pippin, MD, FACC said. “It’s time for the remaining seven US schools to end animal use and embrace the future of medical education.”

The decision to move from live animal use to non-animal methods in medical training is also sweeping Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) classes.