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Setback for animal to human transplants
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- Subject: Setback for animal to human transplants
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- Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 07:23:32 -0800
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BBC Saturday, January 30, 1999 Published at 10:50 GMT
Setback for animal to human transplants
Pigs are genetically modified to make organs compatible
with humans
By Corinne Podger of BBC Science
The Council of Europe has voted for a
moratorium on clinical tests of animal organ
transplants into human beings.
The decision will be a heavy blow to
researchers working on the technique, known
as "xenotransplantation". It also means the
global shortage of human donor organs will
have to be solved some other way.
Millions of dollars have already been poured
into research on transplanting animal organs
into humans.
Most researchers have
focused on pigs, which
are highly compatible
with humans - and by
adding some human
genes to specially bred
pigs, it reduces the risk
that transplanted animal
organs will be rejected
by their human
recipients.
But researchers have
run up against persistent
problems. These involve a number of viruses
which - while harmless to pigs - might pose
serious health risks to humans, and possibly
cause new human diseases.
While not banning the idea of animal organ
transplants altogether, the council of Europe
voted to ban clinical tests on real patients in
Europe - and wants to see that ban extended
worldwide.
As a result, any trials of the transplants, which
might have gone ahead in Europe this year,
have been indefinitely postponed until more is
known about the potential hazards.
Ethics questions
The council also expressed concern about the
ethics of animal organ transplants, both for
humans, and for animal welfare.
With an international shortage of human organs
for transplants, many people die while waiting in
vain for an organ - like a heart or a liver - that
they desperately need.
But with the council's decision, animal organs
are not going to be the answer - at least in the
short term.