Australian Panel Backs Xenotransplantation Pilot Trials

An Australian health panel is recommending that controversial research and pilot human trials involving the transplantation of animal cells and organs into human patients be allowed to proceed.

The Working Party on Xenotransplantation said it plans to recommend that trials involving liver and heart transplants be permitted to proceed because of the shortage of human organ donors.

The official recommendation, that "well planned and closely monitored animal-to-human transplantation clinical trials should be permitted in Australia under a strict regulatory system," will be presented to the National Health and Medical Research Council in May.

Bioethics consultant Nick Tonti-Filipinni said he was concerned that no regulations prevented the creation of transgenic embryos -- containing a mixture of human and animal genes -- for research.

"It raises concerns about forming human-animal hybrids ... and that is an issue that has not yet been considered by the community," Tonti-Filipinni said.

But Working Party chairman Jack Sparrow said "the risks and ethical considerations were not enough to outweigh the needs of people who were dying while awaiting organ transplants."

Other Sources: Australian Media