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AUSTRALIA: Pig Organs Urged For Transplants By Jen Kelly January 14, 2004 A TOP Federal Government body has strongly recommended the use of pig organs to cut transplant waiting lists and save Australian lives. A National Health and Medical Research Council working party report has argued the case for animal-to-human transplants, called xenotransplantation. It says the first clinical xenotransplantation trials could be brain cell therapies or skin grafts. The working party said xenotransplantation research could also lead to animal cell therapies to beat diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. The plan is in response to appallingly low donor rates, with Australia and New Zealand the worst in the western world. NHMRC working party chairman Dr Jack Sparrow said animal organs could stop people dying needlessly on waiting lists. "Against that background, I think while xenotransplantation offers some possibility of helping those people it's appropriate to consider it as an alternative approach," he said. "In 2001, only 801 organ donations were available to a total of 1955 Australians awaiting transplants for the treatment of conditions such as heart disease or kidney failure." Pigs are preferred because they are easy both to breed and genetically modify, and their anatomy and functioning is so similar to humans. The NHMRC report says organ transplants are further off because of problems with rejection and organ function. But it says genetic modification of animals is showing promising progress towards organ transplants. "Overall, there does not appear to be any major ethical reason why the medical community should not at least consider animal-to-human transplantation therapies as a possible option for human therapy," the report says. But it adds the therapy must benefit society as a whole, respect the welfare of the animals, and allow for informed consent from the recipient. However, ethicists have raised fears animal diseases such as SARS could be passed to humans if the transplants get the green light. And animal welfare advocates object to animals being farmed for spare parts. Medical ethicist Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filippini said the biggest concern was the risk of transmitting animal diseases to humans. "One of the possibilities would be a retrovirus, like HIV, and there are retroviruses in pigs and monkeys," he said. "And you have to think about things like SARS, which was transmitted from animals to humans through meat processing." Ethicist Dr Greg Pike said terminally ill Australians may feel desperate enough to accept an animal organ despite safety concerns. "One person may say one day it makes me feel really sick. I don't like the thought of carrying in my body a pig's organ," said Dr Pike, deputy director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute. "But when they've got pancreatic cancer, on their deathbed, they might be pushed to an extent where they'd accept it." Australians Donate national director Peter Wallace said 107 Australians died on a waiting list for an organ in 2002, the most recent figure available. Almost half, 49, died waiting in vain for a kidney, 10 needed a heart, 22 were seeking a liver and 23 wanted a lung. SOURCE: The Courier-Mail / NEWS.com.au, Australia http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8385753%255E2,00.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn