Xenotransplantation
There have been numerous developments in the subject
of biotechnology. One of these advancements contains xenotransplantation, the
transplantation of living tissues, cells or organs from one species to another.
The purpose of human xenotransplantation is that it proposes a possible
solution for the problem of the worldwide shortage in human organs because the
number of accessible organs is not equal to the number of needed organs. According
to some experts, the number of people waiting for an allotransplant (it refers
to a same-species transplant such as human-to-human.) is progressively
increasing without organ donations and approximately half of those demanding an
organ transplant will die while on the organ donor waiting list (Anderson 205) .As we can see, in
theory xenotransplantation might provide good solution for organ shortage
crisis. However, besides these advantages xenotransplantation contains some
serious risks to consider before using it. Firstly, the risk of organ rejection
is very high in xenotransplantation and due to the rejection patients might
die. Secondly, xenotransplantation might cause some diseases because animal
organs and tissues contain some viruses. This situation may affect badly
receivers’ and also whole society’s health. Moreover, xenotransplantation
influence patients’ psychology and animals’ welfare. Lastly, there are also
some religious concerns about xenotransplantation. Therefore, we should
consider these criteria when deciding against xenotransplantation.
First of all, xenotransplantation
has three different effects on the recipient. The first one is the risk of rejection.
Our immune system uses a diversity of tools to protect our body against alien
organisms like bacteria and parasites. This would comprise defending against
transplanted organs, tissues or cells. Hughes states the risk of rejection is
higher in xenotransplantation and result of this rejection recipient may die (Hughes 20) .
Therefore, the risk of rejection in
xenotransplantation mainly contains the immune system most probably assaulting the
transplanted organs and not identifying it because the differences between the
donor mammal and the recipient are much greater. According to an expert “rejection is the major cause of the loss of
allotransplants from unrelated human donors, so it can be predicted that
xenotransplants will be much worse” (Cummins 52) . In my opinion, people should
consider the risk of rejection before using xenotransplantation because the
level of rejection risk is very high and the result would be an excessive
strict immune response which may aggravate the patient’s situation. Therefore,
the risk of rejection can be one of these criteria when deciding against
xenotransplantation.
The second effect on the
receiver is the risk of dangerous diseases. Animal pathogens can be transmitted
to humans. For example, some specialists assert that “Diseases like HIV, Ebola, Hepatitis B, and, most
recently, bird flu, originated in animals” (Olakanmi and Purdy 2) . Therefore,
xenotransplantation may also cause dangerous diseases because some diseases
have already infected humans without xenotransplantation. In addition to that it
might cause also new deadly diseases because some viruses might be harmless to
their animal host, but they can be harmful when transmitted to humans.
According to some researches one kind virus is harmless to Macaque monkeys, but
fatal to humans (Sykes, d'Apice ve Sandrin 1102) . For this reason, I
think that people should against xenotransplantation until the risk of diseases
is resolved because their health may be worsened. The most significant problem
is the risk of spreading infectious illnesses to the broader population like in
case of bird flu, pig flu. Hanson says that xenotransplantation represents a
possible danger to the communal well-being even though it supplies a few advantage
to individual patients (Hanson 22) . We can understand
from that xenotransplantation might cause a kind of epidemic disease and affect
all people in the world. Therefore, people should think twice because their decision
affects not only their welfare but also whole society’s welfare. Moreover,
according to experts pigs are often used as a source for organs in xenotransplantation;
however, pigs harbor a diversity of identified and unidentified bacteria and
viruses (Olakanmi and Purdy 4). In my opinion, this situation increases the
risk of disease because pigs are contains dangerous and undiscovered viruses.
As a result, the risk of disease issue is very important because it affects
both patients’ and other people’s health. That is why; the risk of disease
should be noted when deciding against xenotransplantation.
Thirdly, xenotransplantation
cause also some psychological problems. For example, some people believe that
xenotransplantation destroys structure of our body and our characteristic
depends on our body’s structure (Hughes 21) .
Therefore, because of this distortion people may have problem with their
self-image and they may not be same person after xenotransplantation. This
situation affects their psychology negatively. As said by Hughes “One
cause of unease is the breaching of normally inviolate boundaries. This is seen
in human organ transplantation. The recipient of a transplanted organ may feel
that the boundary between self and non-self has been breached. ... With
xenotransplantation, an additional boundary, that between human and animal, may
become blurred." (Hughes 19) .
We can understand from that xenotransplantation may break boundaries between
human and animal and at the end humans might feel themselves like an animal.
They might have some trouble with their
identity. Therefore, this issue should considered by people when deciding
against xenotransplantation.
Furthermore, experts have been trying several
ways to overcome the risk of rejection and disease problem, but these ways are
also cause another problem. For example, Hanson says that they use genetic
engineering in order to change organs, cells and tissues of the donating animal
and they try to create transgenic animals. By these transgenic animals, they
can reduce the risk of rejection (Hanson 24) .
However, I think this situation raises serious problem about the welfare of the
animals used in the clinical practice because these animals might be subjected
to painful biological and surgical manipulations during experiments. In
addition, in order to reduce the possibility of epidemic disease scientists try
to raise possible donor animals in a pathogen-free environment. Scientists
claim that “Donor animals may also suffer because of the conditions necessary
for producing safe organs. To maintain a sterile environment, infant animals will
be delivered by cesarean and kept isolated, causing much emotional suffering in
social animals like pigs.” (Olakanmi and Purdy 2). We can understand from that
donor animals are forced to spend their lives confined in unnatural, sterile
environment, unable to satisfy their basic behavioral need, until death. In my
opinion, this is also violation of animal rights because they cannot live their
natural habitat, they are isolated from their environment. As we can see
xenotransplantation affects donor animal’s welfare in a bad way. Therefore,
people should also consider animal’s welfare and right when determining against
xenotransplantation.
Last but not least,
there are some religious concerns about xenotransplantation. Religion is
important because it acts a chief role in the daily life of numerous persons
and also it might influence and restrain lifestyle choices and activities,
containing which nourishment may be consumed or which medicinal cure may be
undertaken. According to Sykes Islamic and Judaic rules ban the breeding and
eating of pigs (Sykes, d'Apice ve Sandrin 1104) . Therefore, some
people might say that transplanting pig organs into Jews and Muslim would be
forbidden. In addition, some religions have different opinions about this
topic. For example according to the writer the central educations of Buddhism
concerning the protection and minimization of damage to animals would make
xenotransplantation unacceptable (Sykes, d'Apice ve Sandrin 1106) . Moreover, as stated
by Sykes Hinduism also has some problem about xenotransplantation. They believe
that the body must stay complete to pass into the next life (Sykes, d'Apice ve Sandrin 1106) . Thus, most likely
they do not believe in transplantation and also xenotransplantation. In my
opinion, health-related treatment should comply with religious rules because
religion plays an important role in some people’s lives. As a result, people
should consider religion factor, while deciding against xenotransplantation.
To sum up,
xenotransplantation is one of the recent controversial fields of bioethics.
Nevertheless in theory, an effective xenotransplantation practice can solve the
problem of organ scarcity because thousands of people die because of the lack
organ donations. However, several main moral problems need to be resolved
before processing. One of them is effects on the recipient like the risk of
rejection, disease and psychological damage. The risk of rejection and
psychological damage cause some serious problems but these affect only
individuals. However, the risk of disease may affect whole global society
because these diseases may turn into a contagious illness like bird flu, pig
flu. The result of this situation might be catastrophic. Another important
point is religions’ viewpoint because religions can be very important for some
people. They regulate their everyday life and decision according to religious
rules. Islam, Christianity and Judaism look positively for xenotransplantation
because it presents some benefits for men like alternative organ source. On the
other hand both Hinduism and Judaism are against the idea of
xenotransplantation. They have different
reasons. For example according to Buddhists animal’s welfare and rights is very
significant. That is why they do not accept to use them in clinical exercise
and they also believe that animals have human like characteristics.
Additionally, Hindus believe life after death. Therefore, their body must stay
complete. Consequently, people should consider these factors when deciding against
xenotransplantation and also they should reject it.
Works Cited
Anderson, M.
"Xenotransplantation:A bioethical Evaluation." Global Medical
Ethics (2006): 205-208. Print.
Cummins, Joe. "Xenotransplantation:
How Bad Science and Business Put the World at Risk from Viral
Pandemics." Institute of Science in Society (2004): 50-26. Print.
Hanson, Mark J. "Case Study A
Xenotrasplantation Protocol." The Hastings Center Report (1999):
22-25. Print.
Hughes, Jonathan. "Xenografting:
ethical issues." Journal of Medical Ethics (1998): 18-24.Print.
Olakanmi, Ololade and Laura Purdy.
"Xenotransplantation: For and Against." 2006. Web. 14.04.2014
<
http://philosophynow.org>
Sykes, Megan, Anthony d'Apice and Mauro
Sandrin. "Position Paper of the Ethics Committee of the International
Xenotransplantaiton Association." Transplantation (2004):
1101-1107.Print.
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