WE DID IT. Great news, petition signers -- the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga decided this week to STOP the use of live animals to train med students. YOU DID IT. Click to read about it and see the petition!
| Animal Abusing Facility Shut Down by the USDA |
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| 5 Maltese Mix Pups Feel Fear Then Elation When They Touch Grass for the First Time |
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When I was a medical student at George Washington University, I refused to participate in a required "dog lab," and I vowed to end these laboratories. Well, the last two known holdouts—the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Tennessee—have both made the decision to end the use of animals in their medical schools, which means that all medical schools in the United States and Canada are completely free of animal laboratories in teaching. We have won this fight.
In 1985, when I founded the Physicians Committee, most medical schools required students who were eager to learn how to treat and heal to instead kill their first patient. Dogs were injected with various drugs to see the physiological responses or cut open so students could perform minor surgical procedures. At the end of every dog lab, the animal was killed.
We worked hard to stop these labs for two reasons: First, the obvious cruelty to the animals was unconscionable. Second, when medical students are trained like this, they come to believe that killing animals is somehow essential to medicine and science. That had to stop.
At many medical schools, students who refused to participate were penalized or even expelled. At the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (the U.S. military's medical school), students could be court-martialed for refusing to take part in the animal labs.
Often we worked directly with medical students and faculty—like those at Harvard Medical School—to replace animals. Other times, we used the law, like when we helped a University of Colorado student sue her school for requiring that she participate in the dog lab. At other schools, we held demonstrations with celebrities and other physicians. We put up billboards. We also held on-campus presentations and discussions. Over the years, as we brought the practice into the public eye, schools switched from dogs to less popular animals, hoping to mute criticism.
Recently, we knew of just two medical schools that were using animals to teach students—the University of Tennessee and Johns Hopkins University. Last month, we shared the great news that, after years of pressure from us and recent criticism by Maryland lawmakers, Johns Hopkins finally dropped its animal lab from the surgery clerkship curriculum. Well, that decision had ripple effects. We pushed hard on the University of Tennessee, which decided to follow suit.
I should clarify that this is the end of animal use in medical school courses. That's a great thing. But animals are still used in more advanced training (in surgical and emergency medicine residencies, for example), and there is an enormous amount of animal use in basic research, unfortunately. We are continuing to work in those areas as well and are steadily winning those battles. But as of now, at every medical school in the United States and Canada, students will get their M.D. or D.O. degrees without ever even being allowed to harm animals.
Thank you for your dedication to creating a more compassionate future. We could not have achieved this milestone without you.
Demand That MetLife Hold New York Blood Center Accountable for 67 Abandoned Chimps
Overview petition
Update #5 4 days ago
The campaign to compel MetLife to demand accountability from the NY Blood Center for abandoning 66 chimps continues. We recently staged a big protest at MetLife on the day of its annual shareholders' meeting. Here's a short video - http://bit.ly/295IW97
In addition to signing this petition, one of the best ways to help the chimps is to use this tweet sheet, which targets MetLife's investors and NY Blood Center's other corporate donors: http://bit.ly/1MDSW7Z
Thank you for your continued support!
Update #4 1 months ago
We are thrilled to report that our chimp protest at the mansion of MetLife CEO Steven Kandarian (the target of this petition) was covered in his hometown newspaper. Here's a link to the excellent article: http://bit.ly/1XpG1cv which many of his friends, neighbors, colleagues and employees will see. On Tuesday (5/17), we are staging a protest (with the help of Care2) at the MetLife building in NYC. If you live in the area, please join us. Here are the details: http://bit.ly/21YnNPC
Update #3 1 months ago
MetLife has yet to respond to the abandoned chimp crisis, so we've had to escalate our campaign. On 5/10, 15 activists staged a protest in front of the NJ mansion of the CEO Steven Kandarian. We also marched through his town & interacted with hundreds of people, many of whom know him. On 5/17, a larger group will protest at the MetLife building in NYC: http://bit.ly/21YnNPC. We will keep fighting until MetLife holds the NY Blood Center accountable. Plz join the fight here: http://bit.ly/24N8WJp
Update #2 1 months ago
We already have over 114K signatures. On behalf of the chimps, thank you! MetLife simply cannot continue to ignore the thousands of people who have contacted them through this petition, email, and social media. Here's another very easy way to help. If you have a Twitter account, please use this tweet sheet to contact MetLife and its investors - along with other NY Blood Center donors. We know from feedback from other NY Blood Center donors that the tweets make a difference: http://bit.ly/1MDSW7Z
Update #1 2 months ago
We - and the chimps abandoned by the NY Blood Center - will not be ignored. Because MetLife has refused to engage with us about the crisis, 20 activists in NYC occupied the company's lobby for 30 minutes during rush hour. Here's a short video of the extraordinary disruption, which has already been shared over 1,000 times on Facebook. Please watch & share: http://bit.ly/1NQcAOl - Also, if you're on Twitter, please use this tweet sheet to contact MetLife and its investors: http://bit.ly/1MDSW7Z
About This Petition
As the New York Blood Center's (NYBC) largest corporate donor, MetLife has the power to compel the organization to reinstate funding for the 67 chimpanzees who they abandoned with no food or water.
For a 30 year period starting in the mid-1970s, NYBC conducted experiments on over 400 hundred chimpanzees in Liberia, where they could capture, breed and experiment on them with little regulatory oversight. When the research was complete, NYBC moved the survivors onto six islands in Liberia and one island in The Ivory Coast and made a public commitment to provide them with lifelong care.
In May, 2015, the New York Times reported that NYBC had “withdrawn all funding for them,” leaving the chimps to die of starvation and thirst. Since then, an HSUS-led coalition of over 30 animal conservation groups has raised funds from the public to pay for the chimps’ care on an emergency basis.
Please sign this petition to ask MetLife, NYBC’s largest and most prominent corporate donor, to exert its influence over NYBC by demanding that the organization provides the funding to pay for the care of the chimps.
Help PETA Expose Abuse and End Cruelty. The global skins trade wants to keep consumers from ever seeing the faces of the rabbits, foxes, and countless other animals it kills. It wants to sweep the immense animal suffering that it causes under the rug, and we can't let that happen. Help us continue to expose—and stop—some of the worst cruelty to animals imaginable by supporting PETA's Investigations & Rescue Fund right now.
'The New York Times' Calls for Ban on Use of Animals in Military Medical Training. The New York Times and 71 members of Congress from both parties have joined PETA in urging the Department of Defense to end archaic training methods that torture live animals and replace them with modern simulation that's not only humane but also more effective. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES NOW
