The ethical dilemma with xenotransplantation
side one to ethical dilemma:
If perfected by scientists and doctors, Xenotransplantation could potentially stop the shortage of transplants for humans around the world. Most transplant recipients are put on a waiting list, for there are more recipients than organs. These recipients can be put on this list for weeks, months, or even years. This is probably the most significant factor as to why researchers are looking into Xenotransplantation, for as stated before, it can possibly stop the shortage of transplants (Agnew, 2001). Statistics show that in the U.S., on average, 22 people die each day waiting for a transplant (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016).
Source: Health Resources & Services Administration
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The graph on the left shows the amount of patients waiting for a transplant each year (orange) compared to the amount of transplants performed (green) and donors recovered (blue). As of January 2013, over 116,000 Americans are awaiting organs, and about 3/4 of those are awaiting kidneys alone (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). 13 people each day die waiting for organ transplants, and a new name is added to the National Transplant Waiting List every 12 minutes (Health Resources & Services Administration, 2016). The shortage is not only an issue in the U.S., but it is a universal problem that has caused many scientists and doctors around the world to try and find a solution for, and many believe that that solution is Xenotransplantation.
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In New Zealand, a company called Living Cell Technologies (LCT) is developing a treatment for Type 1 Diabetes by using pig cell transplants (Biotechnology Learning Hub, 2011). This treatment is called DIABECELL®, and it consists of enclosed live pig cells, and these cells are called islets of Langerhans (Biotechnology Learning Hub, 2011). These then produce insulin in response to blood sugar levels in the human's body. Clinical trials are now being done in several countries like Russia, New Zealand, and Argentina. This is just one way of using the tissues of animals to help the lives of humans living with a disease or illness, and more treatments are predicted to be created in the future (Biotechnology Learning Hub, 2011).
In 1995, a man named Jeff Getty received a bone marrow transplant that came from a baboon (The Associated Press, 2006). Before the transplant, Getty was diagnosed with HIV that then turned into AIDS. Suzanne T. Ildstad, M.D., director of the Institute for Cellular Therapeutics in Louisville, Kentucky, performed the bone marrow transplant into Getty, for baboons have an HIV-proof immune system, and by injecting Getty with these cells, Ildstad hoped that the cells could protect him from infection (The Associated Press, 2006). At first the injected cells seemed to be working, but after two weeks the cells stopped functioning. While the baboon's cells no longer functioned in Getty, he was able to live a longer life than expected, but died in 2006 at the age of 49 due to heart failure after treatment for cancer and a his struggle with AIDS (The Associated Press, 2006).
While Xenotransplantation is not perfected yet, clinical trials and experiments are shown to help improve the lives of some people, even if it is temporary.
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Side two to ethical dilemma:
While the use of animal tissues and organs can be used to not only stop the organ shortage, but treat diseases and illnesses, some people have found issues with Xenotransplantation. Issues found with this are social, economic, animal and medical concerns (Campaign for Responsible Transplantation, 2000).
Social Concerns:
- Groups against Xenotransplantation, such as the Campaign for Responsible Transplantation (CRT), believe that researchers are not telling the public everything that is going on with the research, for in the past, classified information had been disclosed, causing uproar with certain groups of people (Campaign for Responsible Transplantation, 2000).
- An example of this was in 2000, when a British animal rights organization, Uncaged Campaigns, received leaked documents stating the surgeries performed on primates and their life rates after surgery, for the average life expectancy was 13 days with a quarter of the primates surviving only two days (PBS, 2006). The organization was upset with what they had seen and exposed the documents to the public (PBS, 2006).
Economic Concerns:
- Xenotransplantation is not cheap; between animals it roughly costs $300,000 per operation, and not including the hidden costs of breeding, housing, medicating, feeding, testing, rendering, and disposing of the waste and remains of herds of these transgenic animals (Campaign for Responsible Transplantation, 2000).
- The current transplant costs for human organs range from $330,000 for a kidney to more than $735,000 for a liver in the U.S. (Campaign for Responsible Transplantation, 2000). These costs are beyond the means of the majority of Americans, especially with an overburdened health care system (Campaign for Responsible Transplantation, 2000).
Animal Concerns:
- Many biotechnology companies are breeding pigs with human genes, hoping to fool the immune system in humans into accepting a foreign organ from another species. This has created a problem with animal activists, for they consider this to be a disturbing genetic reconstruction of life, with almost no informed public discussion or thoughts as to how the pig's genetic structure will handle the human genes.
Medical Concerns:
- Pigs have been the source of serious zoonotic diseases, such as the swine influenza virus, and since pigs will most likely be the source for Xenotransplantation, the risks of infection with pig viruses are considered a major concern (Campaign for Responsible Transplantation, 2000).
Citations:
- Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2016, from https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/need-continues-to-grow/
- Jeff Getty, 49, AIDS Activist Who Received Baboon Cells, Is Dead. (2006, October 16). Retrieved October 03, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/16/health/16getty.html?_r=0
- What's Wrong With Xenotransplantation? - Campaign for Responsible Transplantation. (2000). Retrieved May 03, 2016, from http://www.crt-online.org/wrong.html
- History of xenotransplantation | Biotech Learning Hub. (2011, December 7). Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://biotechlearn.org.nz/themes/xenotransplantation_and_organ_donation/history_of_xenotransplantation