The killing of animals to make Australian Defence Force medicos battle-ready is a breach of national health guidelines, says a welfare group.
In a letter to Defence Minister Stephen Smith, PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals) says it is "of grave concern" that Australia's military has failed to adopt synthetic models that could save thousands of pigs, which are used in trauma training before being killed.
But a Defence spokesman said the force's practice complied with current regulation and had been used in military and civilian training for many decades.
"These courses are considered essential to adequately prepare medical officers to deploy on ADF operations," the spokesman told AAP in a statement.
PETA claims Defence is not following guidelines published by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council by using live animals, and that research has found a simulated model provides outcomes superior to animal-based training.
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Defence does not agree.
"Based upon the best scientific advice available, there remains a small number of circumstances where training of those who save the lives of critically-injured service personnel is best achieved through live tissue trauma training," the spokesman said.
"This training essentially concentrates on the first hour of emergency care post-event."
He added that the force has "reduced to the absolute minimum" the use of animals for medical training, and aims for further reductions.
PETA says "more modern" training technology has been adopted by the majority of NATO countries.
