WASHINGTON — In an effort to save troops' lives, the military uses live animals during trauma training for its medics. But a new report says the U.S Department of Defense (DOD) cannot demonstrate fully the extent to which it's making progress in minimizing animal use.
In order to reduce loss of life and disability resulting from combat injuries to the troops, the DOD provides military personnel with trauma training intended to prepare them to treat acute battlefield wounds. To do that, the DOD uses animals such as pigs and goats, because their organs and tissues are similar to those of humans.
When the animals are used, they are anesthetized to minimize pain or distress. But, the use of animals in medical education has faced long-standing scrutiny due to concerns about animal welfare.
Stars and Stripes reported about a protest outside Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in April that targeted the facility's use of animals for trauma training.
"It's a balance. You want to make sure you have the effectiveness of programs in this case, medics that can treat those that sustained battlefield injuries, with the compassion and care of animals," said Cary Russell, a director with the Government Accountability Office's Defense Capabilities and Management team, in an interview with 13News Now.
DOD guidance states that alternatives such as training videos, mannequins and cadavers will be considered and used whenever possible.
The GAO report, says the DOD has made efforts to consider alternatives.
However, the report says, the DOD has not established measurable objectives and performance measures to track progress in reducing live animal use.
"Our hope and our message is that they need to do a better job at benchmarking their progress and show what it is that they doing, and, how that relates to getting to that end state," said Russell. "But, as of now, based upon the response of the department, I feel optimistic that they will take actions to address the recommendations."
The GAO made three recommendations for how the Defense Department can develop measurable objectives to refine, reduce, and replace the use of animals in trauma training:
- The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the military services, develops objectives, in specific and measurable terms, for monitoring the department's progress in refining, reducing, and replacing animal use in trauma training.
- Once DOD has developed measurable objectives, the Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the military services, develops and uses performance measures—including determining which data need to be collected to monitor the department's progress in refining, reducing, and replacing animal use in trauma training.
- The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering ensures that the components use fully approved guidance for animal use protocols for trauma training and clarifies which protocol elements, such as literature searches and verification signatures, apply to animal use protocols for trauma training.
The DOD concurred with all of the recommendations.