Xenotransplants - Animal to Human Organ Transplants We should NOT risk the human race for the benefit of the few! When asked how he feels about the advancement of science to places that were once notions to be the job of the creator, Dr. Martin Luther King replies by saying, “Cowardice asks is it safe? Expedience asks is it political? Vanity asks is it popular? But the conscience asks is it right?” This essay is about animal to human organ transplants otherwise known as Xenotransplants. Even though this procedure is meant to save lives, it is giving rise to metaphoric Frankenstein’s monsters and putting some aspects of the Human Race at risk. This essay will discuss diseases that can jump species and cause catastrophic dangers for humans such as Ebola and AIDS which the human population has no resistance towards. I will also explore the different religious view points on Xenotransplantation. I believe it is important to first explain what this procedure is about and how safe it is, keeping in mind the fact that four thousand people die each year waiting for human organs. So, what is Xenotransplantation? Xeno means strange or foreign. The term is used to describe a transplant between any two species of animals, including humans. Xenotransplantation usually refers to a procedure in which an organ, such as kidney or liver or live cells (such as brain cells) from a healthy animal are grafted or transplanted into a human patient. The transplanted materials are called xenotransplants or xenografts. Plus, there are certain kinds of xenotransplants which are not true transplants at all, because the animal organ or cells stay outside the patient’s body. These are called extra-corporeal (or outside the bod... ... middle of paper ... ...Christian Barnard in South Africa. Today, comical movies such as the “animal", are being made about transplants and maybe it is a way to change the attitude of the public towards such transplantations. I believe it a personal choice and should be left to the individual to decide and not the temple that they belong to. However, as humans we are changing the normal speed of evolution and destroying the natural order of nature, bad or good. Yes, we do have the technology; but do we have the right to do it? I think not! Works Cited Parkins, Keith “ Animal-to-Human Transplants” September 1999 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gain/x-trans.htm (5/10/2001) “Xenotransplantation: Animal Organs to save human lives” 2000 http://dukenews.duke.edu/Med/xenobkgd.htm (5/11/2001) Fanjoy, Sylvia “Public consultation on xenotransplantation” http://www.xeno.cpha.ca/(5/11/2001)
...om society. Although Bishop makes no excuses for the shortcomings of science and academia, he delivers an ominous message to those who would attack the scientific community: Science is the future. Learn to embrace it or be left behind.
Thesis: I will explain the history of organ transplants, starting with ancient ideas before modern science until the 21st century.
The term “medical transplant” is referred to the process of organ donation. In current modern trends, the world is moving towards the fifth generation. The new innovative medical techniques have enabled the people to reform from severe diseases. The phenomenon of organ donation and transplant is based on two primary persons. It involves surgical process to remove a body organ and tissue form from donor and fitting it into the body of recipient. In addition, the transplant that is performed within same body is called auto graft. Medical transplant that is performed in between to different bodies of same species is called allografts (Hewitt, 2008). The main reason of medical transplantation and organ donation is any injury and disease which prohibit the organ to work in proper condition.
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.
The medical procedure of Xenotransplantation, (transplanting animal organs into humans) has been happening for many years, this medical practice was proceeding mixed results and mixed views regarding the procedure. In the year 1984, a baby girl whom was named Baby Fae by medical staff, became known world wide for the medical procedure she endured. Baby Fae had a potentially fatal heart problem, she was suffering from Hypoplastic left heart syndrome which is a fatal disease if not treated by surgery, (Time Magazine, 1984). The only way to save her was to replace her failing heart with a healthy seven month old baboon heart. The medical professionals that were working on Baby Fae were excited to be able to perform this Xenotransplantation on the infant. After the procedure Baby Fae was acting like any normal healthy infant would. But unfortunately, the replacement heart surgery wasn’t a true success story as the medical staff had hoped. Baby Fae died 20 days after her surgery because her tiny body rejected the baboons heart, which then went on to cause other fatal damage such as kidney...
Dr. Michael Shermer is a Professor, Founder of skeptic magazine, and a distinguished and brilliant American science writer to say the least. In His book The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People he sets out to embark on the daunting task of convincing and informing the reader on sciences’ ability to drives the expansion of humanity and the growth of the moral sphere. Although such a broad and general topic could be hard to explain, Shermer does so in a way that is concise, easy to understand, and refreshing for the reader. This novel is riddled with scientific facts, data, and pictures to back up shermers claims about the history of science, humanity and how the two interact with one another.
All views and opinions should be taken into consideration when looking at areas such as ethics and morality. The topic of organ and tissue transplantation carries many considerations that can sway an individual whether to allow this practice to occur. A major issue that many consider is if this process is considered to be playing against fate and god. Society sometimes feels that taking and receiving organs from others is not acceptable because you are going against the life that is already determined along with taking parts from someone else that is not yours. Genetic engineering of animals and xenotransplantation carry many issues that include animal welfare along with medical considerations. Individuals feel that putting animals through this process just for human benefit is not acceptable and is affecting the way animals live. Others feel that using animal body parts on humans goes against morality completely since it is not natural in any shape or form (Elisabeth H. Ormandy 544). Even though some agree with a black market for organ sales, most are against this idea completely. It has been claimed that paying for organs would be ineffective, that payment would be immoral because it involves the sale of body parts and that the main donors would be the desperate poor, who could come to regret their decision (Elias). Opinions on morals and ethics are always affected when other fluctuating factors are tacked on to the
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol. 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1991. 487. Print.
There have been numerous developments in the subject of biotechnology. One of these advancements contains xenotransplantation. It is the transplantation of living tissues, cells or organs from one species to another. For example, it covers transplantation of vital organs like heart, kidney and also skin graft, bone transplant s, corneal transplants. The purpose of human xenotransplantation is that it proposes a possible solution for the problem of the shortage in human organs because the number of accessible organs is not equal to the number of needed organs. For instance, according to M. Anderson’s article the number of people waiting for an allotransplant (it refers to a same-species transplant such as human-to-human.) is progressively increasing without organ donations. In addition, approximately half of those demanding an organ transplant will die while on the organ donor waiting list (Anderson 205). Furthermore, it can also be used to treatment other illness where there is a scarcity of human material accessible such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, diabetes. As we can see, in theory xenotransplantation provides good solution for human beings, however, when look at the history we cannot see same good things. For instance, in 1964, a scientist who is Keith Reemstma transplanted a chimpanzee kidney into a human with end period nephritic disease, increasing the participator’s life a record nine months (Anderson 205). However, there is another case which is Baby Fae. In this case doctors transplanted a baboon hearth into the baby and he survived just four w...
The case at hand is whether or not we should use xenotransplantation in humans. It is a rather controversial topic that has brought up strong feelings in parties on both sides of the argument. One of the main arguments of the people who are for xenotransplantation is that there is a large shortage of organs available for transplant, and that animal organs could provide enough spares to satiate the need. A recent figure given by the FDA is that currently 13 people die per day in the U.S. because of the lack of organs available for transplant. Meanwhile, one of the arguments of those people against xenotransplantation stems from animal rights. Some people feel that it is wrong to use animals in such a way and that there is a great potential for animal abuse.
Trivedi, Bijal P. “Cloned Pigs modified for Use in Human Transplants”. National Geographic News 3 Jan 2002. Retrieved 6 April 2011 from nationalgeographic.com
Organs from pigs, goats, monkeys, chimpanzees, and baboons have been used in xenotransplant experiments conducted so far. It promises to be a good treatment option for patients with end-stage organ failure (Williams 12). The transplant surgery could be scheduled at the patient’s convenience rather than scheduling an emergency surgery as soon as the human donor is found. Patients would be able to receive transplants when they first need them rather than having to wait until a transplant is the only remaining option that can save their lives. When transplants are conducted earlier, the patient will be stronger and have a better chance of recovering. Xenotransplantation appears to have several advantages as a medical procedure, but like any medical procedure it is not without its risks. Before we embrace xenotransplantation as yet another boon of science, we need to consider the ethical dilemmas surrounding this medical technology.
Brain death occurs when brain cells, which cannot regenerate themselves, are injured or dead. This results in brain death as the brain becomes starved of oxygen. One can only be pronounced brain dead, by a neurologist and even then, a number of criteria must be met, some of these include; unresponsiveness to stimuli; no reflexes and an inability to breathe unaided by a machine(Goila and Pawar, 2009). At this point one is put on a ventilator. A ventilator is a machine which maintains the circulation of blood, oxygen and nutrients to organs around the body. To put a patient on life support is very costly to the family of the patient and even the hospital.
The current issue facing societies around the world is human-animal hybrids experiments. These experiments are viewed in two lights, positive and negative. The positive of having these tests are that scientists could rid the world of diseases. However on the other hand people see these studies as inhumane and detrimental to everyone’s well being. This paper will be broken down into 6 areas including (1) a brief history of hybrid experiments dating within the decade, (2) a view of the stakeholders in the issue at hand, (3) how people would interact with humans receiving these treatments, (4) cultural and ethical considerations, (5) problems still at hand, and (6) a conclusion.
One of the most unsettling experiments that is conducted includes taking organs from one species and transplanting them into another, which is known as xenotransplantation. The practice of genetic engineering in animals destroys the life of one animal to create specific, unnatural traits in another. Research has shown that people will only agree and accept the practice of animal experimentation when they think that the animals do not experience suffering. However, if the experiments were broadcast more publicly, this issue would not exist.