Xeno-transplantation
The National Health and Medical Research Council has imposed a 5 year moratorium on whole organ, cell and tissue transplant clinical research.
The risks of exposure to yet another potentially untreatable human epidemic such as HIV/AIDS, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), SARS or Avian Influenza are too great.
Currently it is difficult to find out if xenotransplantation research at an animal-to-animal stage is being done.
At the NHMRC Public Consultation meeting in Adelaide on the 17th February 2004,
there was 100% rejection of xenotransplantation as a way of dealing with
organ shortages, from the attendees who voiced their opinions.
Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of cells, tissues or organs
from
one species to another.
It poses a serious health risk to the community and involves extreme cruelty to the thousands of animals to be sacrificed in futile research.
Photos courtesy of British Union Against Vivisection (BUAV) www.buav.org
Dangers to Human Health
Disease Transmission
Researchers have publicly acknowledged that xenotransplantation poses risks of disease transmission across the species barrier (zoonosis).
PERV - Porcine Endogenous Retrovirus (PERV) has already been discovered in the animals intended for use as a source for organs.
Unknown Virus Behaviour
The chances of cross-species infection are high due to:
- continued emergence of new zoonoses from unexpected sources
- the inability to diagnose potential xenozoonotic viruses with current tests
- unknown pathogenic behaviour of viruses
Untreatable Viruses
-Even if detected, these viruses are largely untreatable.
Funding Drain
Funding for xenotransplantation studies will divert resources from other medical services. Hospital funding is already insufficient to meet our current needs - eg a shortfall in hospital beds, operation waiting lists and outbreaks of disease due to insufficient staffing/cleaning.
Major Health Risks
Clinical trials of xenotransplantation expose the organ (or tissue) recipient to major health risks. These risks are also extended to the recipient's carers and families and the wider community.
Animal Cruelty
Animals will suffer both in the research phase and in the transplant stage. This research would go on indefinitely because the process is unnatural and unknown.
Sterile Environments
Source animals (pigs) are housed in pathogen-free units with strict levels of hygiene and disease control. They are treated as research objects, not living beings, so no behavioural needs are considered. They have no access to rooting materials or the outside environment. Piglets will never have the opportunity to bond with nor suckle their mothers.
Drug Testing
Baboons, who will be used for practice, will be subject to invasive operations. They will also suffer the consequences of being dosed with immunosuppressive drugs leaving them vulnerable to infection and suffering from rejection of the transplant organ over days or weeks.
Genetic Modification
Thousands of animals including rats, mice, rabbits and dogs are used in studies of genetic modification. Many more are used in the development of immunosuppressant drugs that will be required to prevent the human body from rejecting the foreign tissue.
Wasted Lives
Thousands of genetically modified animals are killed as failures, suffering malformations that affect their development and functioning. Mother animals suffer terribly from constantly giving birth to malformed animals and from having their babies taken away.
Aternatives
There ARE alternatives to xenotransplantation. Researchers have already acknowledged that human-to-human transplants are far safer than using materials from a different species. This eliminates the risk of zoonosis and also reduces the chance of the organs being rejected by the recipient's body. Clearly this is the best option for those in need.
There are a number of alternatives:
- Promotion of current human organ donation schemes
- Reduction of demand for donor organs by encouraging/rewarding healthier lifestyle habits
- Use of organs from 'non-heart-beating donors'.
- Use of organs from living donors
- Development of artificial organs
What YOU can do...
Contact your State and Federal politicians to express your opposition to xenotransplantation research.
- Let them know that this type of dangerous and unethical research is NOT acceptable to the Australian public.
- Suggest that cruelty free alternatives be promoted more
widely, such as providing incentives for organ donation.
For further information contact:
Anti-Vivisection Union of South Australia
PO Box 18, Kent Town, S.A., 5071.
www.arrc.org.au
Australian Association for Human Research
http://www.aahr.asn.au/fact_sheets/xenotransplantation.html