USA Today (October 20)
“Scientists for decades have dreamed of xenotransplantation: using animals to solve the shortage of organs available for human transplant.” This came a step closer with a “groundbreaking operation using a pig’s kidney.” Though the successful transplant into a brain-dead human is only a first step, it may ultimately help reduce the number of deaths, roughly 6,000 annually, of those waitlisted who die before receiving a donor organ.
Tags: Animals, Deaths, Donor, Groundbreaking, Human, Kidney, Operation, Organs, Pig, Scientists, Shortage, Transplant, Xenotransplantation
The Independent (July 30)
“Human-animal hybrids are to be developed in embryo form in Japan after the government approved controversial stem-cell research.” Elsewhere worries that “human cells could stray beyond the targeted organs into other areas of the animal, effectively creating a creature that is part animal, part person” have essentially banned such research. But supporters counter that “the work – led by renowned geneticist Hiromitsu Nakauchi – could be a vital first step towards eventually growing organs that can then be transplanted into people in need.”
Tags: Controversial, Embryo, Geneticist, Government, Human cells, Human-animal hybrids, Japan, Nakauchi, Organs, Stem-cell research