Program's Website Deceptively States That Maiming Live Animals Is the 'Gold Standard' for Surgical Training
For Immediate Release:
November 17, 2011
Contact:
Robbyn Brooks 202-483-7382
Nashville, Tenn. -- This morning, PETA filed a consumer complaint with the Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs against Joelton-based Meridian Institute of Surgical Assisting asking for an investigation into potential violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act for the institute's allegedly fraudulent and misleading advertising statements regarding the effectiveness of crude animal laboratories in its Surgical First Assistant (SFA) training program. In the SFA program, pigs are cut up and forced to suffer "real bleeding and actual surgical emergencies" before they are killed.
"Almost every SFA training program, aside from the Meridian Institute's, uses only non-animal methods and agrees that maiming and killing pigs is an inferior way to teach surgical skills," says Jeffrey S. Kerr, general counsel to PETA. "Falsely claiming that Meridian's animal-based training labs are somehow the 'gold standard' in order to lure potential customers is illegal."
In its complaint, PETA points out that contrary to claims on the institute's website that its Applied Science Lab is the "gold standard" for SFA training and the "only real way to become a quality assistant," the vast majority of SFA programs in the country all use only superior, non-animal methods, such as sophisticated simulators, which studies have repeatedly shown teach surgery better than crude animal laboratories. Furthermore, the use of animals is not recommended or required by the national organizations that certify SFAs and accredit SFA programs. Similarly, 95 percent of U.S. medical schools—including those at Harvard, Yale, and Vanderbilt universities—have completely stopped using animals to teach surgery to medical students.
PETA has also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture calling for an investigation into the Meridian Institute's apparent violation of the Animal Welfare Act for its failure to adequately search for and consider alternatives to animal use.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.