Today in the field of genetics, professionals and civilians are faced with a wide spectrum of ethical dilemmas pertaining to the field of genetics. Genetics is the scientific study of how genes control the characteristics of plants and animals (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The field of Genetics is growing rapidly with new discoveries everyday leading to many controversial topics pertaining to recent discoveries in the field.
The nature of the information gained from genetic testing, raises more ethical issues compared to other health information. Genetic information in particular is a controversial topic for many reasons, including these three examples. Prenatal testing and the decisions of birth based on the results of the test. The potential …show more content…
The United States Food and Drug Administration clarifies xenotransplantation as any procedure that involves the transplantation, implantation, or infusion into a human recipient of either live cells, tissues, or organs from a nonhuman animal source or human body fluids, cells, tissues, or organs that have had ex vivo contact with live nonhuman animal cells, tissues, or organs”. (US Food and Drug Administration [FDA], 1999; FDA, 2001)Through xenotransplantation scientists and doctors aim to increase organ availability by using pig donors. This may sound shocking, but new technological advances mean that xenotransplantation may play a big role in our …show more content…
If scientists could eliminate pig proteins that humans don’t need while introducing necessary human proteins to pig organs, then the chances of organ rejection could be minimized via genetic engineering. If scientists could pull this off, it would mean an end to organ unavailability for patients. Xenotransplantation is now using transgenic pigs to prevent immediate rejection from the recipient. Pigs containing human genes have helped pig immune cells successfully interact with human immune cells, and their organs have been tested in non-human primates. Non-human primate recipients have pig kidneys lasting for months and hearts for years. Nevertheless, immunosuppressive medications are still required to control immune rejection in primate recipients. Other xenotransplantation strategies include the tolerance approach. The tolerance approach tricks the immune system of the recipient into recognizing pig molecules as self, by injecting the recipient with pig bone marrow prior to the organ transplant. Even with the successes in xenotransplantation, significant scientific barriers must be overcome for successful xenotransplantation (Tena).
There is currently a lot of research in xenotransplantation, with the end goal to save human lives. A company involved in xenotransplantation research, UnitedTherapeutics, has claimed
The nature of the information gained from genetic testing, raises more ethical issues compared to other health information. Genetic information in particular is a controversial topic for many reasons, including these three examples. Prenatal testing and the decisions of birth based on the results of the test. The potential …show more content…
The United States Food and Drug Administration clarifies xenotransplantation as any procedure that involves the transplantation, implantation, or infusion into a human recipient of either live cells, tissues, or organs from a nonhuman animal source or human body fluids, cells, tissues, or organs that have had ex vivo contact with live nonhuman animal cells, tissues, or organs”. (US Food and Drug Administration [FDA], 1999; FDA, 2001)Through xenotransplantation scientists and doctors aim to increase organ availability by using pig donors. This may sound shocking, but new technological advances mean that xenotransplantation may play a big role in our …show more content…
If scientists could eliminate pig proteins that humans don’t need while introducing necessary human proteins to pig organs, then the chances of organ rejection could be minimized via genetic engineering. If scientists could pull this off, it would mean an end to organ unavailability for patients. Xenotransplantation is now using transgenic pigs to prevent immediate rejection from the recipient. Pigs containing human genes have helped pig immune cells successfully interact with human immune cells, and their organs have been tested in non-human primates. Non-human primate recipients have pig kidneys lasting for months and hearts for years. Nevertheless, immunosuppressive medications are still required to control immune rejection in primate recipients. Other xenotransplantation strategies include the tolerance approach. The tolerance approach tricks the immune system of the recipient into recognizing pig molecules as self, by injecting the recipient with pig bone marrow prior to the organ transplant. Even with the successes in xenotransplantation, significant scientific barriers must be overcome for successful xenotransplantation (Tena).
There is currently a lot of research in xenotransplantation, with the end goal to save human lives. A company involved in xenotransplantation research, UnitedTherapeutics, has claimed