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April 18, 2013

Evan D. Kharasch, M.D., Ph.D.

Vice Chancellor for Research

Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Professor of Anesthesiology

Washington University in St. Louis

Campus Box 8027

660 South Euclid Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63110

Via e-mail: kharasch@wustl.edu

Dear Dr. Kharasch,

We were disappointed that you and your colleagues were not willing to meet to

discuss the allegations we mentioned in our April 10 email. As you have

requested, we are providing you with the information.

PETA has obtained disturbing undercover video footage taken last month during

a cat intubation laboratory in the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) course

conducted at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) in conjunction with

St. Louis Childrens Hospital (SLCH). The footage, which you can view at

http://www.petapreview.com/4preview/cat_intubation_laboratory_preview.asp,

contains evidence of inadequately anesthetized cats waking up in the middle of

intubation procedures and being placed at risk for serious injury from excessive

intubation attempts. The video contains a troubling clip of a WUSTL laboratoryveterinarian grossly misrepresenting the American Heart Associations (AHA)

position against animal use in the PALS course to trainees. This information has

now been provided to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American

Heart Association.

As PETA and a host of pediatric medical experts have communicated on dozens

of occasions to WUSTL and SLCH faculty and administration since 2008, there

is absolutely no evidence showing that intubating cats improves clinical

performance. Indeed, studies have found that those trained on human patient

simulators are more proficient than those trained using animal laboratories.This

is why out of the more than 1,000 PALS facilities, WUSTL is the only one thatstill uses animals for intubation training.

We urge you to immediately end these cruel and outdated exercises before

the next PALS course takes place on May 30.

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We are still open to meeting with you to further discuss this matter. I look forward to your reply.

You can contact me by e-mail at JustinG@peta.org or by telephone at 860-882-2492.

Sincerely yours,

Justin Goodman, M.A.

Director

Laboratory Investigations Department

cc: Mariellen L. Dennett (dennettm@wusm.wustl.edu)

Mark S. Wrighton, Ph.D. (wrighton@wustl.edu)

Larry J. Shapiro, M.D. (shapirol@wustl.edu)

Donald E. Clayton (claytond@wustl.edu)

Michael R. Cannon, Esq. (michael_cannon@aismail.wustl.edu)

Jill Friedman (jill.friedman@wustl.edu)

Joni Westerhouse (westerhousej@wustl.edu)