Update: Kudos to the Medical College of New York which has announced the end to its use of live dogs in a first-year physiology course. No word on whether the Medical College of Wisconsin will follow suit.....

Original report: The Medical College of Wisconsin operates a “dog lab”, and every spring 60 dogs are used in the teaching of a first year physiology course.

In a July 31, 2006 letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a school official described the experimentation on live dogs as a “valuable teaching experience” for the students.

In fact, the Medical College of Wisconsin has available state-of-the-art alternatives to use of animals in research and educations. The Medical College owns four human patient simulators. These human patient simulators were designed and developed to replace animals in teaching at the College. These simulators actually simulate human responses in a variety of situations. Other schools that do not use live animals also teach physiology through didactic teaching, interactive computer models, and mentorship opportunities with faculty in various medical disciplines.

In 2006 the Animal Health and Plant Inspectiion Service ("AHPIS") inspected the Medical College of Wisconsin’s animal research programs in response to a complaint. The APHIS inspector found there had been no consideration of whether there were alternatives that would not cause more than momentary or slight pain or distress to the animals. The federal inspector also found the facility’s report failed to specify sufficiently the use that would be made of the animal during research or teaching. There was also no indication there were qualified personnel to handle or care for or conduct research or instruction with the animals. It was also not clear the veterinary care was sufficient.

The Medical College was given time to correct these deficiencies.

In a July 31, 2006 letter to APHIS officials at the college explained they had considered alternatives to using dogs. They explained to APHIS they had considered but decided against using pigs or sheep. Nowhere did the Medical College of Wisconsin indicate why live animals must be used at all for research or teaching instead of the four human simulators. School officials said only they had set forth more clearly protocols detailing use of the animals, the trained personnel and veterinary care available. They explained to APHIS the protocols had been approved by IACUC which, remember, is the school’s own internal committee that is supposed to assure compliance with regulations.

That was the extent of the investigation by any agency into the complaints about the use of animals in research and education at Medical College of Wisconsin. So, next spring another 50 dogs will die as part of brutal outmoded experiments. They will be experimented on and killed as part of a “valuable teaching experience”.

Contact the Medical College of Wisconsin today. Politely ask administrators to immediately replace live animals with humane non-animal alternatives. It’s time to make the use of animals for research, testing and education a thing of the past. T. Michael Bolger President and CEO Medical College of Wisconsin Office of the President 8701 Watertown Plank Rd. Milwaukee, WI 53226 Phone: 414-456-8225 Fax: 414-456-6560 tbolger@mcw.edu Allen Cowley, Jr., Ph.D. Chairman Department of Physiology Medical College of Wisconsin 8701 Watertown Plank Rd. Milwaukee, WI 53226 Phone: 414-456-8277 Fax: 414-456-6546 cowley@mcw.edu

The New York Medical College is also currently using live dogs in teaching courses. The dogs are subjected to cruel experiments and then killed as part of the education of future doctors, something more than 90% of medical schools have stopped doing. Please make polite phone calls, fax or email- Ralph A. O'Connell, M.D., Dean of the School of Medicine at: Tel: 914-594-4900 Fax: 914-594-4145 Email: oconnell@nymc. edu and Gabor Kaley, Ph.D., Chairman of the Department of Physiology, at Tel: 914-594-4087 Fax: 914-594-4018 Email: Gabor_Kaley@nymc.edu Ask them to immediately cancel this course and implement humane alternatives.