Johns Hopkins Ends Mandatory Medical Training on Piglets

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine—one of the top medical schools in North America—will no longer require students to practice surgical procedures on anesthetized pigs. While the original four-session course will still be available, students will have the option to fulfill surgical practice requirements with simulation technology. “I think [animal testing is] unnecessary, unethical, and kind of wasteful when Johns Hopkins has the top technology available,” vegan Maryland state Democratic delegate Shane Robinson said. “The latest task force to examine the pros and the cons and the ethics decided that the bar has to be pretty high to justify doing this,” school spokesperson Audrey Huang told The Baltimore Sun. Medical group The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)—which opened an all-vegan medical center last year in Washington DC—were the driving force behind urging Johns Hopkins (one of the last medical schools in North America to adopt such a policy) to end the cruel practice. PCRM said that they will now focus their efforts on the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the only remaining medical school to require training on animals.