Tell the U.S. Secretary of Defense to prohibit the military from using animals for research and training! Along with misguiding servicemembers with wildly inaccurate results, the use of animals in military research is overshadowed by the many less inhumane methods of training soldiers that do not involve killing live creatures.

Live goats and pigs are often intentionally stabbed, shot, burned, maimed, or worse in combat medic training, while military personnel are responsible for quickly applying patient-stabilizing procedures like maintaining an airway, addressing chest wounds, and establishing an IV line [1].

While the results of such training may prepare those medics for agricultural applications, there is little to be learned of rescuing injured humans in the process.

Hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in these tests every year, but there are many superior alternatives. Live-tissue training can be simulated by synthetic materials and dummies. Military officials have been unwilling to adopt the new methods, however, claiming the old ways provide some crucial educational element [2].

But the facts are clear to many others all over the world. Animal-based methods used in pre-clinical testing to select drugs for human use are unreliable and no more accurate than a flip of a coin, and the same goes for treatment for trauma and severe injury [3]. They also cost much more than some of the most advanced alternatives available today.

Live animal testing has been banned in Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey [4]. There is little reason it should not be banned in the United States.

MORE ON THIS ISSUE

[1] Humane Society of the United States, Fact Sheet: Medical Training Using Animals. Retrieved Sept. 21, 2017 from http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/medical\_training/qa/questions\_answers.html

[2] New York Times Editorial Board (2016, June 15) Ban Animal Use in Military Medical Training. Retrieved September 21 from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/opinion/ban-animal-use-in-military-medical-training.html

[3] New England Anti-Vivisection Society (2017), Limitations and Dangers. Retrieved September 21 from http://www.neavs.org/research/limitations

[4] Animal Ethics, Military research on animals. Retrieved September 21, 2017 from http://www.animal-ethics.org/animal-exploitation-section/animal-experimentation-introduction/military-research-animals/