Use of live animals as teaching tools protested at Bethesda, Baltimore medical schools

The use of animals in classrooms by medical schools ‘‘violates the spirit and the letter of the federal Animal Welfare Act,” wrote Laura Ireland Moore, executive director of the National Center for Animal Law in a letter sent recently to Larry W. Laughlin, the Bethesda medical school’s dean.

Moore said the practice also violates Department of Defense regulations mandating that animals not be used if scientifically valid alternatives are available.

The letter ‘‘wasn’t meant to be a legal threat,” Moore said. ‘‘We’re trying to encourage them to do the right thing.” She added that so far, the Portland, Ore., center, part of the Lewis & Clark School of Law, has received no response.

Marion Balsam, a pediatrician and retired Navy admiral, said she has been trying to persuade Laughlin for the past 18 months, but sees no evidence that her discussions with him have had any effect, although high-technology infant patient simulators are available at the neighboring National Naval Medical Center and at the National Capital Area Simulation Center in Silver Spring.

‘‘He said he trusts his staff and makes decisions in the best interests of his students,” Balsam said of Laughlin.

A spokeswoman for the military medical school confirmed that its students practice some procedures on live animals, but said the school regularly reviews animal use and will do so again this spring.

‘‘We have concluded it is an important and worthwhile portion of the curriculum,” said Carol Scheman, vice president of external affairs for the medical school.

Scheman said the school follows all rules and regulations.

Balsam said she objects to the school’s use of ferrets to practice placing breathing or feeding tubes in infants.

‘‘From my reading of the literature, there’s great consensus that simulation technology can be substituted,” she said.

Hopkins is the only medical school ranked in the top 10 nationally that continues using live animals as a training tool.

It is reasonable to believe that animals suffer, even if they don’t die, because students make mistakes, said John J. Pippin, a medical and research adviser for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C.

In many ways, simulators are not just equal but superior because they provide feedback and enable students to correct errors and keep practicing, said Pippin, a cardiologist.

The law center’s letter also is aimed at the military medical school’s use of live pigs to teach basic surgical skills, said Tara Failey, a spokeswoman for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Scheman said she did not know which live animals are used.

Johns Hopkins complies with applicable regulations and established public policies for use and care of the roughly 155,000 animals its uses for research and medical training, the university said in a statement.