A Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates vegan diets and alternatives to animal research says Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has promised to stop using live pigs to teach invasive procedures to emergency medicine residents.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says it received an email from Dr. Craig Hillemeier, dean of Penn State College of Medicine and CEO of Penn State Health, stating “there are no plans to use live pigs in training our emergency medicine residents in the future.”
The Physicians Committee in December filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The complaint stated that using live animals violates the federal Animal Welfare Act.
The group is now withdrawing the complaint.
The Physicians Committee said 95 percent of medical programs in the United States and Canada do not train students with live animals, but use medical simulators and human cadavers instead.
