‘Homeland’ Exec Producer Gideon Raff to Lead PETA’s Congressional Briefing on Animal-Free Military Training
PETA and Medical Experts Will Demonstrate Life-Like Human Simulators That Talk, Breathe, and Bleed
For Immediate Release:
February 8, 2016
Contact:
Tasgola Brune 202-483-7382
On Wednesday, Gideon Raff—the Emmy Award–winning executive producer of the hit TV show Homeland and a former Israel Defense Forces paratrooper—will join PETA and honorary hosts Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) to lead a briefing that will demonstrate to members of Congress how realistic and cost-effective human simulators can replace archaic U.S. military medical training in which thousands of live animals are shot, stabbed, and killed each year.
Where: Rayburn House Office Building, Rm. 2203, 45 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, DC 20515
When: Wednesday, February 10, 10:30–12 p.m.
“Shooting, stabbing, and dismembering thousands of live animals is a cruel, wasteful, and inferior way to prepare service members to treat human patients,” says PETA Director Justin Goodman. “PETA looks forward to showing Congress firsthand how modern human simulators that talk, breathe, and bleed teach lifesaving skills more effectively, more economically, and far more humanely than maiming pigs and goats.”
“Having served in an Israel Defense Forces special combat unit, I have the utmost concern for the health and security of the heroic service members—like those portrayed on my shows—who risk their lives to protect our safety and freedom,” says Raff. “Research has proven time and again that the military doesn’t need to mutilate animals to save troops’ lives.”
Expert medical panelists speaking at the event will include Anahita Dua, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., and retired Rear Adm. Marion Balsam, M.D. The briefing will also feature a hands-on demonstration of strikingly life-like human-simulation technology designed specifically for military training.
Congress is currently considering the Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training (BEST) Practices Act (S. 587/H.R. 1095)—a bipartisan bill cosponsored by Reps. Grijalva and Lieu—which would phase out the use of animals in military medical training in favor of the simulation methods used instead of animals by nearly 80 percent of the U.S.’ NATO allies and more than 98 percent of civilian facilities in the U.S.
This congressional briefing follows a video exposé by PETA released in 2015 that revealed abuse of animals and soldiers by a leading military medical-training contractor.
Broadcast-quality video footage is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org or click here.
