The following was extracted from a USENET
posting in
rec.pets.dogs.misc dated 1/24/97. Please
read carefully.
>At the University of
California San Diego School of Medicine, part of the
>first-year curriculum includes two "dog labs." In
the first lab, you open
>the chest of the dog with a cast saw, then observe the
beating heart, then
>remove the heart. In the second lab, you give your dog
increasing doses of
>an unknown drug until you identify the drug from the way the
dog is
>reacting, or else your dog dies of an overdose first. The
purported
>purpose is to teach basic principles of cardiology and
pharmacology. This
>is NOT about perfecting life saving operational techniques or
about
>testing breakthrough drugs! The dogs used are purchased from San Diego
>Animal Control.
>
>Though the labs are technically "optional,"
students are heavily pressured
>to do the labs, and no mention is made of alternatives that
exist, such as
>videos, CD-ROM, watching a human surgery at a hospital, etc.
No such
>alternatives are sanctioned by the faculty. There is a
growing movement
>among some of the students that the labs should be
modified--either in the
>development of an officially sanctioned non-killing
alternative, in the
>combining of the two labs so that the number of dogs used is
reduced, or
>to abolish the labs altogether. Currently, very few schools
include such
>labs as part of the curricula.
>
>The administration has been unresponsive to our repeated
requests for
>reform. Maybe if they receive some e-mail from concerned
people, they will
>consider it. Please send your mail to "jcovell@ucsd.edu," and
>"mprintz@ucsd.edu"
These are the doctors in charge of these laboratories.
>
>Thank you! If you have questions or want more info, reach me
at:
>lcollumb@aol.com
>ecollumb@ucsd.edu
>
Students Against Vivisection in
Education
1/24/97
See also: The National Anti-Vivisection
Society