Johns Hopkins University has come under criticism for performing operations on live pigs for instructive purposes, according to The Sun. JHU is one of only 10 medical schools left in America that uses live animals to teach medical students. Hopkins Surgery Director Dr. Julie Freischlag told The Sun why the school uses animals:
“Simulators have no feedback as to texture and touch … That’s where it’s so important to use animals, to feel all the right tensions and strengths.”
The organization that has drawn news coverage for protesting is called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Members of the PCRM held signs and have been undertaking a letter writing campaign to end the use of live animals at Hopkins. Several other medical schools have given up the use of live animal use for surgery but they deny it has anything to do with the organization.
Note: Looking into the background of this organization is also an interesting window into the war of words and credibility that characterizes activist organizations: ActivistCash.com dismisses the PCRM as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”, painting it as an unscrupulous activist organization. SourceWatch.org pointedly attacks ActivistCash.com as a “front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries.” Further research finds that SourceWatch.org has been called out by another site, discoverthenetworks.com, which claims that SourceWatch uses too many “far-leftist sources.” Of course, discoverthenetworks.com is not immune to criticism either, as a website run by conservative activist David Horowitz with the explicit mission of providing “A Guide to the Political Left.” The string of accusations doesn’t end there but we think that this sample is enough to show that the issues are more important than the apparent credibility of the organization pushing them.
