Wisconsin Medical School Ends Its Last Animal Lab
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)
July 2013

“Animals are no longer used in that lab. No animals are used in any of the medical education curriculum at the Medical College of Wisconsin.”

“You’ll be pleased to know that the Medical College of Wisconsin has restructured the one student physiology lab that used small animals,” wrote a medical school spokesman to John Pippin, M.D., director of academic affairs for the Physicians Committee. “Animals are no longer used in that lab. No animals are used in any of the medical education curriculum at the Medical College of Wisconsin.”

Following is a brief timeline of the Physicians Committee’s Medical College of Wisconsin campaign:

  • 2006: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke the news that MCW was using live dogs for medical student training.
  • 2006-2013: The Physicians Committee worked with MCW faculty and administrators, physicians, MCW medical students, and Wisconsin residents to end the use of live animals.
  • 2008: MCW ended dog use but made a lateral move by switching to pigs.
  • 2010: MCW ended its pig lab, but other physiology labs using rabbits, frogs, and rats continued.
  • June 2012: MCW announced that animal labs would not be used while the new curriculum was finalized. The Physicians Committee reported this to its members.
  • June 2013: MCW informed the Physicians Committee that one animal lab would be reinstated. Later that month, the Physicians Committee received confirmation from MCW that it had decided to replace that animal lab and end all animal use for medical student education.  
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