The Department of Defense has not established measurable objectives and performance measures to track progress in reducing animal use for combat trauma training.
That’s the conclusion of a report from the Government Accountability Office released on May 3.
According to the report, the military uses live animals to train its medical personnel to treat battlefield injuries and save service members' lives.
“DoD guidance states that alternatives will be considered and used whenever possible, if such methods produce scientifically or educationally valid or equivalent results,” the report reads. “When animals are used, they are anesthetized to minimize pain or distress.”
While the Defense Department has made efforts to consider alternatives to live animal testing such as training videos, mannequins, and cadavers for trauma training, the report found it has not established measurable objectives and performance measures to track its progress.
“DoD has inconsistently applied guidance for reviewing and approving trauma training protocols,” the report reads.
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The GAO made three recommendations in its report on how DoD can develop measurable objectives to refine, reduce, and replace the use of animals in trauma training:
1. The Defense Secretary should ensure that the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the military services, develops objectives, in specific and measurable terms, for monitoring the department's progress in refining, reducing, and replacing animal use in trauma training.
2. Once DoD has developed measurable objectives, the Defense Secretary should ensure that the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the military services, develops and uses performance measures—including determining which data need to be collected to monitor the department's progress in refining, reducing, and replacing animal use in trauma training.
3. The Defense Secretary should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering ensures that the components use fully approved guidance for animal use protocols for trauma training and clarifies which protocol elements, such as literature searches and verification signatures, apply to animal use protocols for trauma training.
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In a statement supporting the findings of the report, PETA Vice President Shalin Gala noted that the U.S. Coast Guard has ended the use of animals in its trauma training and that former President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan law that included a PETA-backed provision that made human-simulation technology the new gold standard of trauma training.
The DoD concurred with the report’s recommendations.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.