Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of organs, tissues or cells from one species to another. Although currently it is only at a preclinical stage, in the near future xenotransplantation could solve the problem of the severe shortage of human organs available for transplant. Currently in the United States, “13 patients die each day waiting to receive a life-saving transplant to replace a diseased organ” 1 The deficiency of donor tissues such as pancreatic islets is also increasing, with statistics in 2002 showing that approximately 140 million people in the world have diabetes but only several thousand pancreatic glands become available annually. 2 This shortage could also be addressed by xenotransplantation using pancreatic islets from …show more content…
On a biological level, organ rejection is a huge issue to be overcome, and strategies for creating tolerance or preventing this rejection need to be continually researched and developed. Also there remains a large amount of unknowns in terms of whether an animal organ could actually continue working normally in the human body and if so, if it would fulfill all of the roles that a healthy human organ does. Xenozoonoses too are a great risk – this is “the transmission of infections agents from one species to another”. 3 In pigs, there have been many infectious agents with the potential to cause disease in humans identified. Furthermore, an unknown virus might exist in the animal which doesn’t cause pathology in the animal but which could in humans. This can’t be tested using animal models and it is clearly not ethical to test in …show more content…
Standards of what is ethical and acceptable to do to animals and what is not in relation to xenotransplantation will need to be determined. For example, some countries only allow testing on pigs not non-human primates.
Such a controversial topic obviously draws a wide range of opinions. However I would like to note that some continuity exists in that all major stakeholders of xenotransplantation seem to think that more research is required whether they are for or against this new technology.
Most scientists remain cautiously optimistic. Claus Hanmer (a German comparative biologist) sees the xenotransplantation goal as “out witting evolution” but believes it will be many years before all of the inherent problems can be solved. 5 Likewise, a British transplant pioneer, Sir Roy Calne, has said “clinical xenotransplantation is just around the corner, but unfortunately it may be a very long corner.” 5 Scientists acknowledge that there is a certain level of risk involved but are in support of xenotransplantation continuing to be developed as they see it as an excellent solution to the worldwide organ shortage. It could also be said that scientists involved in the development of xenotransplantation support it due to the economic gains and rousing of profile they could experience if it takes off in the future. Another point that scientist such as Professor Robin Weiss have roused is that “there is quite a lot of danger
Could you imagine being able to create new organs, tissues, muscles, and even food? With embryonic stem cell technology, believe it or not, these things are possible. Stem cells are the body's raw materials. Specifically, they are cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated. Under the right conditions in the body or in a laboratory, stem cells can divide to form more cells called daughter cells. These daughter cells either become new stem cells or turn into specialized cells with a more specific function, such as blood cells, brain cells, muscle cells or bone cells. The possibilities are almost endless. The debate and main issue with this technology is that the actual stem cells come from embryos. Embryos are an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development. Although there is controversy surrounding these cells, embryonic stem cells should continue to be researched and used, because they have so much potential.
The article, “Pancreas Transplant: A Cure for Diabetes?” written by Eli A. Friedman, M.D., explores the possibility of a cure for type 1 diabetes and the implications involving this experimental procedure. The article discusses current procedures and treatments that are commonly used to control type 1 diabetes and highlights provisional treatments that evolved into pancreatic transplant surgery.
Many ailments can be cured or at least ameliorated by the replacement of an organ and the progression of medical science has increasingly allowed more types of organs to be successfully transplanted. Doctors’ ability to transplant is thwarted, however, by the disproportionate number of patients in need of such life-saving treatment relative to the number of donor organs available. Due to a variety of circumstances there just aren’t enough spare organs to go around. In light of this situation and the ever increasing number of people who die every year while waiting for an organ donor, xenotransplantation has become a very attractive alternative to human transplants, for obvious reasons. While there may be a shortage of human organ donors, we can easily envision animals being bred for their organs and providing an almost unlimited supply.
In the world we’re living in today, many kinds of diseases, infections, and viruses are continuously arising. At the same time, scientists are untiringly researching about how we can prevent or cure them. Unfortunately, millions of people have been affected and sick that some of their organs fail that results to the need of organ replacement. Many people have died because no organs have been available to provide the need of organ replacements. The shortage of organ replacement has been a bioethical issue since then and it seems like no solution has been available. However, due to the studies scientists have been conducting, they found the most possible answer to this issue – Xenotransplantation. It hasn’t become very popular all over the
The issues surrounding the Baby Fae case raised some important questions concerning medical ethics. Questions were raised regarding human experimentation (especially experimentation in children), risk/benefit ratio, the quality of informed consent, and surrogate decision-making. Primarily, this case showed that new guidelines were needed to regulate radical procedures that offer little hope and high notoriety and recognition of the physician performing them. Dr. Bailey had been doing extensive research for years on xenografts, or cross-species transplantations, yet none of his animal recipients had survived over 6 months.16 His research was neither governmentally funded nor available for peer-review, and Dr. Bailey was even warned by colleagues that his procedure was not ready for human patients. Previous primate xenografts had been tried with humans, but all had been rapidly rejected.
In America, there are currently 122,198 candidates on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) waiting list (“OPTN”). Due to a lack of available organ donors, around 18 waiting list candidates will die every day (“OPTN”). This has prompted the development and investigation of xenotransplantation—the transplantation of animal tissue and organs to potential human candidates. Currently in its early phases of development and study, xenotransplantation is controversial for its high failure rate, with only a few cases successful. This is attributed to the human immune system rejecting those animal donated organs, thereby potentially causing immediate death to the human candidate. On the one hand, pre-clinical trials have broadened the understanding of the human immune system, as well as furthered xenotransplantation research. However, because xenotransplantation has achieved little success, opponents of the procedure argue that it is unethical to continue its practice. It is also important to note that trials often use baboons in place of humans, which presents several variables to be examined before further human trials can begin. Moreover, the potential acquisition of zoonotic infection is a serious risk that cannot be fully determined without the use of human subjects. Thus, not only will xenotransplantation require more extensive study, it will also require hundreds of animal lives, all in an effort to create nothing more than a last resort.
A few weeks ago The New York Times published the article Hopeful Start for First Uterus Transplant in the U.S. The article talks about the candidate who will be receiving the first uterus transplant and the expected outcome (Grady). This is exciting news for many women in the United States, but there are a few people that don’t share the excitement. Although there have been uterus transplants performed in other countries before, bioethical issues still arise. There have been some heated debates on this issue in the past, and both the supporting and opposing sides make good points. The truth of the matter is that even though there is risks uterus transplants can benefit women and medicine a great deal.
Human cloning research has once been the subject of terrifying science-fiction films and novels, science experiments gone wrong, accomplished only by the evil scientists twirling their moustaches. However, ideas presented on page and screen are rarely accurate. The possibility of cloning an exact copy of another human with one already fully developed is almost impossible, but through meticulous research, scientists have discovered the numerous benefits of cloning humans, either with individual cells or an embryo.
Islet transplantation is a rapidly evolving technology with advantages and disadvantages, that’s why it should be performed only within the setting of controlled research studies.
"XENOTRANSPLANTATION: The Benefits and Risks of Special Orga Transplantation." BIO. Biotechnology Industry Organization, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
When an organ such as your heart, liver, kidney or pancreas fails to function, the only remaining option may be to have an organ transplant. What if there are not enough organs to be used to save the lives of people who are in need? This is one of the huge problems we are facing today, not only in the United States, but all over the world. Due to the lack of organ donors, many people in need of an organ will die because they could not find a match in time, or because there were simply no organs to be offered. This problem can be dramatically changing if more people are willing to donate their organs. The first attempts of organ transplants came during the early 1900’s, but due to the lack of drugs and insight about the procedures, they often failed because of organ rejection, killing most patients (The Development of Organ Transplantation). Today, transplantations of different organs would be a lot more common if there were more organ donors to donate. With less people being killed on the highways and in other accidents, the amount of organs needed for people who truly need them has decreased greatly. Options to overcome this loss have been proposed, such as the transformation from an “Opt-In” to an “Opt-Out” organization, where organs would be used unless someone respectively objected the use of them (Egendorf). There are many important pieces to make organ donation and transplantation successful, such as the process it goes through and the requirements that are involved.
“It is a simple fact that many, if not most, of today’s modern medical miracles would not exist if experimental animals had not been available to medical scientists. It is equally a fact that, should we as a society decide the use of animal subjects is ethically unacceptable and therefore must be stopped, medical progress will slow to a snail’s pace. Such retardation will in itself have a huge ethical ‘price tag’ in terms of continued human and animal suffering from problems such as diabetes, cancer, degenerative cardiovascular diseases, and so forth.”
Stem cell therapy is an imperative topic for health specialists and for patients with degenerative disorders. Stem cell therapy in India has mammoth potential and should be considered as a healing treatment for injuries or organ impairment. Furthermore, systemic stem cell therapy exhibits an assurance in treating neurological illnesses. However, it is also sometimes a topic of political discussion.
People argue that cloning should or should not be permitted. Some people assert that animal cloning can lead to medical through and help with the endangered species. The article by Jenny Barchfield writes that “Brazilian researchers are turning to cloning to help fight the perilous decline of several animal species” (Barchfield). The scientists are trying to use cloning to help endangered animals from extinction. Cloning could help create an animal from endangered species to prevent the animals from extinction. This is very important to keep animals from extinction, because once they are all gone it is very hard to get them back. Another scientist states that cloning could be very useful to cure human from diseases.By producing organs from animals and transplanting it into human to cure the disease (Gardels). The cloning of animals could be also very useful to the humans. Using this technology could create an organ from an animal to transplant them instead of the diseased human organ to help cure the
"Xenotransplantation – Ethical Considerations Based on Human and Societal Perspectives." Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica. March 31, 2004. http://www.actavetscand.com/content/45/S1/S65.