In an article published in 2019 on Bioethics Press Synthesis, Henrianne introduced one of the new advancements in biology and the medical field, but it is also one of the most controversial experiments in recent years.
In this era, there is a high demand for organ transplants. In the past, the organs were mostly from human donors. But as science becomes more advanced, we have found ways to use organs from animals to transplant for those in need, rather than waiting for a donor, which is very rare. In 2019, a Japanese researcher, Hiromitsu Nakauchi, announced his new experiment in Japan to culture human pancreas in pigs. This was proposed soon after Japan had relaxed its chimera law.
In this experiment, he planned to inject human induced pluripotent stem cells into genetically modified pig embryos. The result after these cells are injected was described as:
"These iPS cells will take the place of the removed gene in the embryos to create a human pancreas. The chimera embryo will then be implanted into a carrier sow’s uterus. The foetus will be removed before birth to study how much pancreatic tissue is derived from human iPS cells and how it functions." (Pontbriand, 2019).
This is a big advancement in the study of chimeras. But at this time, these animal-human chimera embryos can only be implanted into animals; implanting chimeric embryos into humans is still prohibited.
WORKS CITED
Pontbriand, H. D. (2019). Pig-human chimeras: a clinical trial announced in Japan. Bioethics News. https://bioethics-news.com/2019/05/13/pig-human-chimeras-a-clinical-trial-announced-in-japan/
Raposo, V. L. (2021). The new Japanese regulation on human/non-human chimeras: should we worry? National Library of Medicine. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7863089/
I found this post really interesting. It is incredible to see how science keeps evolving. I had no idea scientific researchers were trying to grow human organs in animals like pigs. While this could be a major breakthrough in solving the organ shortage crisis, it raises serious ethical concerns. How much human contribution is too much in these chimeras, and where do we draw the line? I think it is a great step forward, but one that definitely needs careful ethical consideration as the research progresses.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Madalyn's comment; how far will it go when exploiting animals for human use? As someone who is a lover of animals but also not a vegetarian, I do think there are extremes to what we use animals for. I presume diseases and infections are more risky due to transplants not coming from a human source. I do believe in the promotion of human life, and if culturing pig organs is what it takes to do so, and can be done safely and morally, then I'm not entirely against it. What science can do these days is so crazy!
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