蜜芽传媒

A US man has become the first person in the world to get a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig. Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center were granted a special dispensation by the US medical regulator to carry out the procedure, on the basis that Mr Bennett - who has terminal heart disease - would otherwise have died. He had been deemed ineligible for a human transplant, a decision that is often taken by doctors when the patient is in very poor health.

Reverend Michael Reiss, an Anglican priest and聽 Professor of Science Education at the London Institute of Education, sits on the the world-renowned Nuffield Council on Bioethics. He responds to several questions about the ethical considerations of the transplant, but begins by saying that many thousands of people could benefit from these transplants. He says that medics had gone to great lengths to prevent a virus or pathogen being introduced into a human being, (ie the method whereby Covid-19 began) and the pigs are kept in sterile environments. In terms of animal suffering, he said surgery and research has been taking place for a long time, with baboons and pigs, so "a lot of animals have died even for the technology to get to this point and there's no doubt that at the research stage, a lot of animal suffering resulted".

Reverend Michael Reiss went on to say that although there is a precedent of pig valves being used for surgery, some people may turn to counselling as a way of coming to terms with such a significant organ being replaced by an animal equivalent. He also addresses the question about whether we should be investing so much in extending people's lives, and quotes research that says many put a good lifespan at 80 or 90s years old, and that young people need transplants too.

Photo: The team at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore who carried out a world-first pig-heart transplant Credit: EPA

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