Surgeons are working redcued hours

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) wants laws, which currently limit such operations to rodents, to be relaxed.

It says reductions in the time junior doctors spend practising in operating theatres make the changes essential.

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) attacked the plan, saying it was 'ethically and scientifically' wrong.

The RCS said it had changed its view on the use of animals, which would be terminally anaesthetised during the operations, because of concerns that junior doctors no longer spend enough time in theatre operating.

Current restrictions on the use of terminally anaesthetised animals for training surgeons should be relaxed Sir Peter Morris

Their hours have fallen so no junior doctor is now supposed to work more than 56 hours a week, and by 2009 the limit will be 48 hours, in line with European legislation.

Sir Peter Morris, president of the RCS, said the problems this caused were 'enormous'. He wants to see the use of both human simulators and live animals.

Using animals would be useful as doctors would find handling and dissecting animal tissue and organs to be similar to doing so with human bodies. A pig's kidney, for example, is a similar size to a human one.

Restrictions

Sir Peter said: "The college does feel now that the current restrictions on the use of terminally anaesthetised animals for training surgeons should be relaxed and extended beyond the use of rodents for training in microsurgery to allow larger animals, such as the pig or sheep, to be used for training in both generic and specific surgical skills."

However, the BUAV said the science behind the call was dubious as pigs were not anatomically close enough to humans to be useful.

Campaigns director Wendy Higgins said: 'It is not an area where scientists should have a relaxation of the law. Ethically, the animal's life is worth more than being used as some kind of disposable surgical tool.'