Honorable Representative (NAME)
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Honorable Senators (NAMES)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Congress switchboard: 202-224-3121
Dear U.S. Congress Members,
A new rule in the National Defense Authorization Act requires the Department of
Defense to report how animals are used in combat simulations
to train medics. The Secretary of Defense has till 3/1/13 to submit a strategy for
"transition to use of human-based methods in certain
trainings."
This is the first time Congress has approved binding language on military animal
tests. As a voter in your district, I am deeply grateful.
Still, we can do better for the men and women who serve this country. Michael P.
Murphy, MD, medical general counsel for Iraq War Veterans
Organization, has stated: "No animal can adequately duplicate the anatomy and
physiology of injuries inflicted upon the human body in war."
As your constituent, I urge you to introduce and/or support complete replacement of
military animal use with human-based models. Combat
medics who amputate goat legs, bomb pigs, overdose monkeys on chemical or biological
agents, and more artificially induced conditions, are
not
armed with the best skills to save lives in the field.
The DOD annually guns down, blows up, dismembers and poisons tens of thousands of
pigs, goats, primates, dogs, cats and other animals, even though advanced computer
simulations and sensor-studded mannequins can supply data more relevant to humans.
The internal organs of humans and other species differ in size, location, texture and
elasticity. Knowledge acquired from animals may
deceive trainees and foster false assurance in their own capabilities. Case in point:
For a past drill to test QuikClot on acute hemorrhage,
stabbed and shot pigs survived at a rate of nearly 100 percent. In the field, this
remedy failed and soldiers died.
In previous sessions of Congress, the Battlefield Excellence Through Superior
Training Practices Act (H.R.1417 / S.3418) sought
to develop, test and validate human-focused medical training. The BEST Practices Act
set a 10/1/16 deadline for transition to animal-
free technology alone. Please help any legislation with similar goals gain traction
in the 113th Congress.
The Army’s Rascon School of Combat Medicine at Fort Campbell has shown that
training "on [simulators] is more realistic to
providing care for a person than training on animals." The Air Force Center for
Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills and the Navy
Trauma Training Center also use human-related methods in place of live animals.
It’s time to modernize all military medical training, as most of our NATO
allies have done. Please support a comprehensive ban on
military animal labs and prioritize optimal training for soldiers.
Thank you,
YOUR FULL NAME
ADDRESS, CITY, STATE
COUNTRY
