AS THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS DRAGS ITS FEET, PETA OFFERS TO PAY FOR HIGH-TECH SIMULATORS TO REPLACE ANIMALS USED IN TRAUMA TRAINING

Studies Show That Widely Used Human Simulators Train Doctors Better, Cost Less and Save Animals’ Lives

For Immediate Release:
8 October 2015

Sydney – Australia’s Assistant Minister for Defence recently stated that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will stop cutting up and killing pigs in trauma training as soon as the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) – which leads the courses – switches to modern simulators that are widely used to teach life-saving medical skills. That’s why today, PETA Australia sent a letter offering to pay for state-of-the-art human-patient simulators for use in all of RACS’ Early Management of Severe Trauma (EMST) courses for ADF personnel in Sydney and at approximately two dozen other institutions across the country.

“Australia’s surgeons deserve the best training available, and that means practising on advanced human simulators, not cutting up and killing pigs”, says PETA Director of Campaigns Jason Baker. “PETA and its affiliates have helped countries around the world modernise their trauma training courses, and it’s time for Australia to join that list.”

RACS continues to cut holes into the throats, chests and limbs of live pigs in its EMST courses even though most other countries teaching this course – including several sites in Australia – have switched to superior human simulators that have been approved since 2001 as full replacements for animal use. Australian regulations require the use of non-animal training methods whenever available. The popular TraumaMan simulator is designed specifically for this training and replicates a breathing, bleeding human torso, complete with realistic layers of skin and tissue, ribs, and internal organs. This system is more portable, less costly and reusable, unlike animal-based exercises, and studies show that doctors who learn life-saving surgical skills on TraumaMan are more proficient than those who cut up animals.

Since PETA US first contacted RACS about this issue in 2013, the group and its affiliates have worked with 16 countries around the world to replace their use of animals in this training with the TraumaMan simulator by donating more than A$3.5 million worth of the state-of-the-art technology.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.au.

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