Xenotransplantation

Last year the new zealand bioethics commitee lifted a ban on xenotransplantation and recently approved a study where insulin producing cells from a pigs pancreas will be transplanted to peoples abdomens as a treatment for type one diabetes. One of the...

main concerns with this has always been the possibility of transmitting a retrovirus but the pigs that will be used are from a herd from the auckland islands that are pretty much pathogen free. Im just wondering what people think of this, particularly of the ethics involved (for a bioethics section of my anatomy exam!). Thanks!

I'm by no means an authority on the subject but I don't personally see the big poop over this. Anything that helps with the transplantation of organs needs to be considered. After watching a dear family member die from liver disease (while on a waiting list for a transplant) all possibility's need to be explored.