In the United Kingdom there are over 10,000 people currently in need of a transplant. Three people die every day in the UK waiting for healthy organs to become available (www.uktransplant.org). In the US 105,747people are waiting for an organ transplant today (13.02.10), and it is estimated that 10 people a day die in the US waiting (www.UNOS.org). There is a worldwide shortage of suitable organs available for transplants, every year thousands of people die as a result of this.
Human organs need to come from healthy donor and be taken quickly, usually from people who have died through trauma such as road accidents, and only then with family consent. Even if every family asked consented there still would not be enough organs to go round. Hypothetically the solution to this problem could be xenotransplantation.
In simple terms Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of tissue or organs from animals into humans.
The potential benefits of xenotransplantation are huge but unfortunately so are the problems.
Pros:
A pigs organs are anatomically comparable to humans in size, and genetically they are far enough removed from that of a human that it is hoped that this would minimise the risk of cross species transmission of deadly diseases.
If scientists could find a way of effectively modifying their organs genetically to match that of the intended recipient, hypothetically it could work and transplant surgery could be performed earlier whilst the patients are still fairly healthy reducing recovery times.
Cons:
The body automatically rejects foreign bodies, hence the need for genetic modification of these organs in order to work.
Pigs (and many other animals) have a shorter life span than humans, their tissues age more quickly.
Animal rights groups disapprove of the killing of animals in order to save a human life.
Religions such as Muslims and the Judaism prohibit eating pork, so this may prove be a problem if the organ has come from a pigs.
The advancements being made in medicine are truly amazing and at times a little scary. With these advancements public opinion is often divided on the ethics. I don’t know if xenotransplantation could ever become a real solution to organ donation in the future, or if advancements being made in stem cell research will get there first. But it would be nice to think that one day no one need die waiting for a suitable organ to become available for transplantation.
