National Medical Program Receives Lifesaving Human Simulator From PETA

For Immediate Release:
November 4, 2021

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

In a win for animals, surgeons, and patients, PETA has sent Sudan’s Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program a brand-new TraumaMan simulation model from Simulab Corporation for surgeons to practice on, thereby preventing up to 70 animals each year from being mutilated and killed in courses on treating traumatic human injuries. This is the third TraumaMan donated by PETA to Sudan’s ATLS program, which has avoided using animals since its inception in 2017.

“Surgeons preparing to treat traumatic injuries in patients deserve the best medical education possible, and that means using human-relevant simulation models,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA is delighted to provide Sudan’s Advanced Trauma Life Support program with superior technology that spares animals’ lives and allows trainees to practice invasive procedures until they’re confident and adept.”

Dr. Dia Ageib, chair of Sudan’s ATLS, wrote to PETA, stating, “[T]hings … are deteriorating after a military coup. Regarding the ATLS, I would say [PETA’s TraumaMan donation] has positive impact on trauma victims and a lot of protesters were saved by our trained ATLS providers in the scene and hospitals during the period of unrest of December revolution. I will take this opportunity again to thank you for supporting our program.”

Thanks to PETA’s donations of 120 TraumaMan simulators—worth approximately $3 million—ATLS programs in 22 countries have stopped or never started using live animals like dogs, pigs, and goats for crude surgical training, sparing the lives of more than 2,000 animals each year and providing surgeons with superior, human-relevant training. Studies show that doctors who learned lifesaving surgical skills on human simulators are more proficient than those who used animals for their training.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.