Yes, indeed, Penn State students need to operate on live animals in a lab for several reasons.

-- There is no better way to learn surgical techniques. I say this with all confidence, since I spent almost four years performing microsurgery in a research lab.

It is virtually impossible to acquire either the most basic of large scale surgical techniques or the most delicate and microscopic techniques other than through "hands-on" training.

-- There are no models in existence that could be used to simulate the effects of such surgery on an animal.

Tell me truthfully, do you think your regard for sterile techniques during preparation, excision, and closure would be a major concern if you were merely working with a plastic model? What about concern for precision during the experimental procedure itself?

Whether the subject dies as a result of surgery is entirely in your control. It is not only your responsibility to take the greatest care, it is your duty and obligation to alert the instructor when a dangerous or uncontrollable situation arises.

-- It is true that there is a great value in using either excised parts or whole organisms (like the sheep brain, the cow's heart, and the fetal pig) in order to learn about the anatomy of a related structure in the human. However, models such as these cannot replicate the physiological manifestations of real physical anomalies or conditions.

-- One can plainly see that the results obtained, though they are predictable and thoroughly documented, have much value when they are reported.

These data become not simply a repeat set of numbers accumulated by students year after year but, on the contrary, a group of tangible, interpretable results unique to that young researcher's experience as a scientist. Yes, that's right, a scientist -- even if the person is an untrained and inexperienced student.

It is the responsibility of the instructor to stress above all that special care be taken when handling any subject in order to avoid any form of stress, since the results of an experiment cannot be used if the subject is not healthy or is experiencing a state of duress.

This includes gentle handling before inspired or injected anesthesia, proper preoperative sterilization procedures before an incision is made, and utilization of the most practical sterile field and techniques available during surgery.

It is also of utmost importance that proper closure of an incision, attentive post-operative care and accurate maintenance protocols be followed during recovery periods.

By strictly enforcing rules and requirements like these, the subjects experience minimal discomfort and the data obtained can be interpreted as valid.

By exposure to laboratory experiences such as these, students can make more accurate judgments about their career goals. A class like this introductory physiology course may encourage a student to examine exactly in what field of biology, if any, they have interest.

The value that is gained in repetition of predictable experiments is not only limited to that of "good results." It extends to an overall understanding of scientific investigation and usefulness of controlled experimental situations that mimic a human condition.

Animal research does not reduce the value of the lives of any research specimen. It makes more precious the wealth of knowledge gained and the human lives saved.

It also makes any scientist profoundly more aware of animals' rights as he or she justifies the use of each specimen in a meticulously detailed and juried protocol.

By performing experiments in the described humane manner, science provides mankind with uncountable scientific discoveries and technological advances.

Case in point: last fall, a surgeon performed an operation that was to be the first partial human liver transplant done in the United States. In this procedure, a mother donated part of her liver to her own daughter.

This operation was done by a surgeon who first performed the same procedure on animal specimens many, many times until "predictable and thoroughly documented results" were obtained. I would venture to say that the human subjects involved found solace in this fact.

I am confident that this physician's repetitions did not constitute unnecessary cruelty toward his animal subjects, and I am also confident that the procedures which are repeated by students in the Biology 42 laboratory do not constitute unnecessary cruelty.

We of the scientific community neither condone nor tolerate any such acts of cruelty. Please do not confuse our experimentation with them.