| News From Transplant Week of Feb. 24, 2002 / Vol. 3 No. 8 |
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Pig-to-Human Transplant Seen Possible in Five to Seven Years |
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Genetically modified hearts and kidneys from pigs could be available within five to seven years to be transplanted in place of failing human organs, according to a Harvard transplantation expert. "There is a huge need, and we believe that pigs can fulfill that need," said Dr. David Cooper. Cooper and others described progress in xenotransplantation -- the transplant of organs from one species to another -- at a conference in Boston sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Fritz H. Bach, another transplant scientist at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, expressed concern over the possible transfer of pig viruses to humans, and said there should be a public debate as to whether the risk, however remote, is worth taking. "We need to ask the public and listen very carefully to what we are told," Bach said. "If the medical establishment imposes this on the public and there is a potential risk, I feel ethically we have to go to the public." Other
sources: AP, AFP |
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