Of ferrets and babies

THE University of Washington's medical school is nationally renown for producing highly skilled doctors and nurses. The outcome of a federal animal-rights complaint should not hinder the UW's abilities in this arena.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine alleges the UW's use of ferrets to teach medical personnel how to insert breathing tubes in premature infants violates the federal Animal Welfare Act.

The federal Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will likely make an unannounced visit. But here's a value that ought to guide everyone involved: The UW must continue to offer the kind of medical training that has made it among the best in the country.

Animals are used in just a fraction of the medical school's training. Alternatives include biologically and anatomically-correct mannequins and computer programs and equipment that simulate medical problems — for example, a sudden steep drop in blood pressure.

The UW makes a compelling case for using ferrets. First, the hospital is the go-to facility for high-risk maternity patients from a five-state area. It has a higher percentage of very low birth-weight preemies. It makes sense that doctors be highly trained in this specialty.

When it comes to inserting a breathing tube down a tiny airway, training makes all the difference between a swift and accurate intubation or an infant who suffers brain damage or death. Ferrets are used for this kind of training because the animals have airways similar to premature babies, some of whom barely weigh a pound.

The ferrets are anesthetized for the training procedures. They are not euthanized. At age six, they are adopted into private homes.

The UW is accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care. Just as important, the school is guided by statutory requirements about the use of animals for research or educational purposes and by its own rigorous protocols.

This issue boils down to a difference of opinion about how to train doctors and emergency workers who do these procedures. For the public, it isn't an academic debate but a matter of life and death.