THE DANGERS OF XENOTRANSPLANTATION
Animal-to-human organ transplantation (xenotransplantation)
did not originate in a vacuum. It is the result of a fundamental assumption
by the medical establishment that the solution to most of society’s health
problems lies in ever more expensive, complex and sometimes risky technologies.
Thus, historically, the first transplant of a human heart in 1967 was widely
hailed as modern medicine’s supreme achievement, despite the fact that
the patient died not long afterward.
Today…many patients still die as a direct
result of complications from the transplant, and others describe their
lives as a living hell due to the polypharmacy regime and lifestyle restrictions
that are forced upon them.
… Transgenic transplants actually represent
one experimental technique (the production of transgenic animals) superimposed
on another (the transplantation of transgenic animal organs into human
beings) …a statistical nightmare, since there is an exponential increase
in unknown risks.
…the public is being led to believe that
the main obstacle – foreign organ rejection – can be overcome on the basis
of earlier experiments in which monkeys receiving transgenic pig hearts
survived for 60 days. Modern medicine still has great difficulty matching
human tissue types, let alone animal tissue types.
However, a more serious public health consideration
is that of disease transmission from animal to human, and subsequently
to the general population. A worst case scenario could mean another AIDS-like
epidemic, with little promise of containment, given the difficulty of carrying
out environmental impact studies beforehand…
…Equally disturbing is the well-publicized
statement made by another US veterinary virologist, Jonathan Allan: "This
is a serious mistake…it only takes one transmission from one baboon to
a human to start an epidemic. There’s no way you can make it safe."
Despite these and other clear warnings
not to proceed with xenotransplants, the United Kingdom health authorities
have decided, nevertheless, to "proceed with caution" with pig-to-human
transplants. It is truly ironic that these health authorities, which go
to extremes to protect the public from importing the rabies virus are now
prepared to expose that same public to an "unquantifiable" risk by transplanting
known and unknown pig viruses into people.
The situation in the US is actually far
worse since xenotransplants have already taken place, unopposed by either
the Food and Drug Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the very bodies whose stated policies are to protect the health
of the public. Despite the fact that almost all of the patients who received
animal organs died soon after their operation, and despite the fact the
FDA policies have always been "risk averse" (i.e. against research methods
that are not well understood), the US Government continues to allow xenotransplants
to proceed. In 1984, Leonard Bailey transplanted a baboon heart into newborn
"Baby Fae" at Loma Linda University, despite the fact that a proven surgical
repair technique could have been used instead of the high-risk baboon heart.
In addition, a human heart was available at the time.
Also, the majority of medical opinion
at the time was against the idea of using a baboon heart at all.
…Legal questions…who would be responsible
for paying compensation to persons who are damaged as a result of the animal
organ inside them, or to secondary victims exposed to the viruses xeno-recipients
transmit. A further major obstacle, which must be overcome before xenotransplantation
can proceed, is how to obtain the "informed consent" of the general population,
since xenotransplantation puts not only the recipient at risk, but also
the general public.
The best long-term solution to organ transplants
in general is preventative medicine, in the widest possible meaning of
the term (obviously this does not apply to those in need of an immediate
organ transplant). Several alternatives exist, although none provides a
complete solution. There is an urgent need for governments to invest more
in preventative measures (such as improved diet and lifestyle patterns,
anti-smoking campaigns, and the like) in order to reduce future waiting
lists to the point where supply meets demand.
Allotransplantation (human to human) is
still the best that modern medicine can offer the end-stage organ failure
patient. From a medical perspective, however, organ transplants with a
few exceptions are an admission of failure on three counts:
failure to diagnose a disease condition correctly in the early stages;
failure to provide the correct therapeutic regimen despite a correct diagnosis;
failure to implement corrective preventative measures.
…. Several schemes exist to increase the
number of human organs available …so-called "opt-out" schemes as practiced
in Austria and Belgium can increase human donors. However, any organ-donation
scheme must by accompanied by strict hospital protocols to fulfil all the
criteria of "brainstem" death, and the necessary written informed consent
before a donor’s organs are removed.
…. before rushing for animal organs, there
are other options well worth considering. Artificial organs are still in
their infancy, but they can provide a temporary substitute or "bridge"
until a suitable human organ is found. In some cases, artificial organs
already provide a permanent solution (e.g. part hearts). From a public
health perspective, artificial organs are far superior to animal organs
because they are essentially disease-free. Indeed, research funding would
be better spent on developing these more promising technologies than on
xenotransplantation. There are also other alternatives available today,
some of which are already in use, such as the successful transplant of
a liver lobe from a mother to her child in need of a total liver transplant.
Similarly, cells from a particular organ can now be cultured into cell
aggregates in the laboratory to provide a "part-organ" as a substitute
in some cases for a conventional organ transplant. Also, cell injection
may help some liver diseases, as recently reported in the New England Journal
of Medicine.
Viable alternatives to animal organ transplants
do exist, but they need to be explored in much greater depth. The present
situation whereby xenotransplantation is being allowed to proceed despite
alarm bells ringing, is both untenable and intolerable and should be challenged
on several fronts: in the media, in court, and in scientific debate. "Seldom,
if ever, have we had as much knowledge to prevent a future epidemic. What
is lacking is the wisdom to act upon that knowledge." (J.S. Allan)
Veterinarian Andre Menache is the president
of DOCTORS
AND LAWYERS FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE
in Britain and works for the Israeli Ministry of Health.
Source: The Civil Abolitionist Newsletter
Autumn 1999. For further information contact: Civitas P.O. Box 26, Swain
NY 14884-0026 - Web site:
www.linkny.com/~civitas-Email:civitas@linkny.com
MORE
ON GENETIC TINKERING VIA MEDICAL "RESEARCH".
GENETIC ENGINEERING WEBSITES
Biotech Action Montreal
http://bam.tao.ca
Campaign to Ban Genetically
Engineered Foods www.netlink.de/gen
Community Actions Publications
(good source of links) www.monitor.net/~cap/ge.html
Greenpeace
www.greenpeace.org/~geneng/
Mothers for Natural Law
www.safe-food.org/-consumer/foods.html
Natural Law Party (Richard
Wolfson) www.natural-law.ca/genetic
Union of Concerned Scientists
(list of ge foods) www.ucsusa.org/Gene/w98.market.html
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