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WIN ›  TX Tech Ends Cat Cruelty

Texas Tech used cats for painful intubation experiments

simulators replace cats in medical training

simulators replace cats in medical training

VICTORY: Texas Tech University Replaces Tormented Cats With Simulated Models. Kinship Circle supporters joined PETA and activists everywhere to urge Texas Tech University Health Service Center (TTUHSC) to use simulated models for medical training courses. For more than two decades, TTUHSC students drove plastic tubes down windpipes of cats, causing them to bleed or swell. Constant intubation scars throat tissue and leads to collapsed lungs or death. Trainees also pumped air into feline chest cavities and extracted surplus air via an inserted needle.

Though TTUHSC earlier agreed to stop purchasing cats from Odessa, Texas Animal Control, it was unclear whether they'd permanently replace the cruel labs with synthetic models like simulators and manikins. Now it is official. PETA says university reports confirm, TTUHSC will no longer use cats for this training! We are certain that thousands of Kinship Circle followers who sent comments in one of our highest participation campaigns ever contributed to this big win for animals.

Unwarranted: Animal Experiments
Human-Relevant Models Work Better. For academic trainings, computerized simulators emulate human anatomy and key facets of patient care. Interactive, virtual and life-like teaching tools are cost effective and facilitate learning about human health and safety. Advanced systems now have layers of life-like skin, fat, and muscle. Some simulate bleeding, and with the advent of AI programming, can answer questions in staged surgical settings. Simulators, unlike cats, dogs or pigs, allow students to learn at their own pace and repeat procedures as many times as necessary.The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association, agencies that sponsor most life-support courses nationwide, do not promote animal use. They advocate synthetic models that give students an accurate depiction of human, not feline, anatomy.

Unfortunately, TTUHSC still conducts animal experiments on pigs, mice and more animals across Agricultural/Food, Bioscience and other departments. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso was among universities called out for a “mass killing spree of animals … considered nonessential to experimenters” (UTEP Student Newspaper, The Prospector). Animal experimentation is a broken system. Bioscience and technology have evolved with cellular, genomic and computational tools. Human-relevant research tools mean researchers don't need to extrapolate info from animals to people. Guesstimates give way to a more predictive science. Conversely, the animal model presumes an effect in one species occurs in another. Genetic, metabolic, physiological and psychological traits vary significantly from species to species. For example, a drug metabolized in a pig, dog or mouse doesn't look like the same drug in a person. Moreover, lab animals exist in perpetual distress from handling, confinement, noise, isolation, pain, fear… Stress hormones influence study outcomes. Ultimately, animal data creates false assumptions that can harm humans.

Empathy & A Better Way…



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Dear Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center,

I understand that after two decades, Tech University Health Science Center has not purchased cats for research from Odessa, Texas Animal Control this year. I hope TTUHSC has joined over 90 percent of U.S. and Canadian facilities that use simulated models for medical training courses.

I am surprised that TTUHSC relies upon old-fashioned animal experiments in the first place. Please permanently replace animal labs with synthetic models like simulators and manikins.

Though human-focused tools yield data more relevant to people, TTUHSC courses have featured a drill in which students drive plastic tubes down windpipes of cats, causing them to bleed or swell. Constant intubation can scar throat tissue and lead to collapsed lungs or death.

Cats have also undergone a procedure that pumps air into their chest cavities. Trainees try to extract the surplus air via an inserted needle.

Animal-free learning methods cut overhead to confine, feed and destroy cats. A timely New England Journal of Medicine article highlights the “very detailed feedback and more subtle measurement of trainee performance” gained from virtual reality simulators. The article concludes that inanimate models are “safe, reproducible, readily available, and cost-effective.”

Moreover, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association, agencies that sponsor most pediatric life-support courses nationwide, do not promote animal use. They advocate synthetic models that give students an accurate depiction of human, not feline, anatomy.

Please let me know if TTUHSC has, in fact, replaced live cat use in medical training with superior and humane non-animal technologies.

Thank you,

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CONTACTS RETRIEVED IN 2009
mary.croyle@ttuhsc.edu, danette.baker@ttuhsc.edu, john.baldwin@ttuhsc.edu, steven.berk@ttuhsc.edu, kent.hance@ttu.edu, james.heavner@ttuhsc.edu, rial.rolfe@ttuhsc.edu, iacuc@ttu.edu
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ORIGINAL CONTACTS RETRIEVED IN 2009
Mary Croyle, Managing Director, Communications-Marketing
3601 4th Street Stop 6235 / Lubbock, TX 79430-0002
806-743-2143 ext. 227 ▪ mary.croyle@ttuhsc.edu

Danette Baker, Associate Director, Communications-Marketing
3601 4th Street Stop 6235 / Lubbock, TX 79430
806-743-2143 ▪ danette.baker@ttuhsc.edu

John Charles Baldwin, M.D.
President's Office, HSC
3601 4th Street Stop 6258 / Lubbock, TX 79430
806-743-2900, 806-743-2370 ▪ john.baldwin@ttuhsc.edu

Steven Lee Berk, Academic Dean
Texas Tech University
3601 4th Street, Stop 6207 / Lubbock, TX 79430
806-743-3000 ext. 4106 ▪ steven.berk@ttuhsc.edu

Kent Hance, Chancellor
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409
806-742-0012 ▪ kent.hance@ttu.edu

Professor James E. Heavner
Anesthesiology Department LBK GENL
3601 4th Street Stop 8182 / Lubbock, TX 79430
806-743-2916 ext. 258 ▪ james.heavner@ttuhsc.edu

Professor Rial Dewitt Rolfe
Vice President, Academic Services LBK
3601 4th Street Stop 6298 / Lubbock, TX 79430
806-743-2905 ▪ rial.rolfe@ttuhsc.edu

Texas Tech University, Animal Care Services
Box 43132 / Lubbock, TX 79409
806-742-3722 ext. 286 ▪ IACUC coordinator: iacuc@ttu.edu


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DISCLAIMER: Information in these materials is verified with original source. Kinship Circle does not assume responsibility for accuracy of information or for consequences of its use. Nothing on this website intends to encourage illegal action in whatever country you are reading it in. Kinship Circle does not engage in, nor support, any form of harassment or unlawful action. Nothing in this alert serves to promote such conduct.

EMAIL ADDRESSES: Kinship Circle cannot guarantee validity of email addresses. During a campaign, recipients may change or disable their email addresses. Email addresses obtained from government or other official websites may be outdated or incorrect.


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Animal Advocacy  |  Education  |  Disaster Aid

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Kinship Circle is a nonprofit focused in: Animal Cruelty Investigation & Action, Humane Education, and Disaster Animal Response.
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