Biology Is Life !

The article abut the transplant of pig cells into human diabetics is quite interesting. I personaly think the practice of Xenotransplantation is a great idea. Although it may be risky, if it is done properly it could help diabetics live an easier life. Pigs can easily be used to combine the cells of a the pig and a human, to help the production of insulin. I believe that this practice will be very effective in helping diabetics all over the world.

I think the practice of Xenotransplantation is ethical for few reasons. First of all, this possible solution could greatly benifit other people and also save many lives. Also because its for the greater good of the people that need the transplant.

The Ethics of xenotransplantation by Pascal Ferzli


sorry i didnt type my name the first time.
 

I feel xenotransplantation is a great solution for the problem of unavailibility of organs for transplant. This innovation has the potential to save thousands of lives each year and cure other human diseases like diabetes. It's ingenious to use pigs for this practice, I would have thought to use some type of monkey because of their genetic closeness to the human species, but if it works no need to criticize. Although, I feel it is very expensive to undergo this treatment which is an extreme drawback and may discourage some to not take this option. Hopefully in the future as it continues to develope, xenotransplantion will become more affordable and I'm sure it will change the field of medicine.

I by no way feel xenotransplantation is unethical. This is just a new way to use the pig to help the human species but the practice should not get carried away to the point where we are killing pigs for no reason. Also, I do not believe that the concern over viruses crossing species will be significant because if this is an approved and controlled process the proper procedures and tests will be in place to assure that the pigs are raised in a healthy, clean environment.

This article decribes the debate over ethics where neagtives are few and benefits can be great. Xenotransplantation is ethical. Article by Theresa Phillips.
 

I remember this from last year, and I found it very interesting. Personally I don't particularly like this idea of Xenotransplantation, but that's not to say that if my life depended on it, I would refuse this option. People had a big ethical problem when regular human to human transplantations that are common now first began. Hope you had a good summer Mr. Johnson, I'll keep an eye on these blogs and I might comment if I like or am interested in the topic, but as you can see I probably won't follow all of the requirenments.
 

hey charlie... hope all is well w/ you in chemistry, glad you contributed to our blog
:D
 

I feel the artice about the transplant of pig cells was interesting. Xenotransplantation is a good ideaand it is really easy to combine. I think it's cruel to the pigs, but there is a lot of people suffering from diabetes. It's good to know that there is something out there helping the diabetics.

Yes, i do think that Xenotransplantation is ethical because it does help the unfortunate ones that do have diabetes. It is an easy way of helping them.

Xenotransplantation Process

written by the Biotechnology Industry orginization
 

Actually I'm taking AP Biology this year so you know it's good.
 

I had mixed feelings when I read the article. It's great that there actually may be a cure for diabetes, but the outcome can be harsh too. Chances are that people may even die from infection quicker than they would by their own chances before the transplant. I also feel bad for the pigs and how we're using them for our own good, but I never had to live without and important organ before, so I'm not one to speak.

By one's perspective it can be either ethical or unethical. For me, I'm not sure if I'm thinking as others would, but earth may begin to become either overpopulated or underpopulated this way since there is not an equal scale of life and death anymore (from natural causes that is). However, I guess that started from the day we learned about science and medicine. If a person truly needed the organ, then I would say it's ethical
.
 

The transplantation of pig organs into humans is a great alternative to waiting a long time for a human oragn. Using pig cells for diabetics is great because it gives those people a new opportunity they did not have before. Thought it is risky, it is still a great idea because medication is evolving rapidly. I believe this practice is a great way for medication to expand and help more people.

I think the practice of Xenotransplantation is ethical because it will benefit people for the greater good. This practice will also those in need of an organ right away instead of making them wait for years.

Link
written by the Food and Drug Administration
 

I think that this is a new and smart way to treat many patients that have Diabetes and organ problems. In the end the animal is going to die it is smart for us as humans to think of this idea now better then later when it could have saved so many lives. The family who lost a loved one from a organ failure are wishing than they could have done this.
Organ Transplants and How They Work
 

I think that xenotransplantation is a great discovery. As long as the pigs aren't exposed to anything harmful, I think it could be a huge step in this new field of medicine. It could possibly even lead to altering a diabetic gene in some way and therefore helping to wipe out the disease entirely. However, I think by using pig cells, tissues, organs, etc. we loose a part of our humanity, at least in a small way. I also think that because of its cost, it might discourage people from undergoing the treatment. On the other hand, I think it is an ingenious discovery if it helps to better or even save the lives of humans.

I do not have any problem with the process of xenotransplantation. If it helps to create better lives for people without diminishing another part of the body I am all for it. I feel awfully for the pigs. Nevertheless, I would have a xenotransplantation done if I truly needed one.

This article argues the pros and cons of this process. Click here for my link.
Sources of the author:

Mohiuddin, M. Clinical Xenotransplantation of Organs: Why aren’t we there yet? PLOS Med. 4(3):e75. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040075.

Reeves, B. Animal Organs Hold Promise for Humans, Designer Pigs Goal of Med Center Research, and Special Farm Supports Research. Lincoln Journal Star online series on Medical Ethics: Tough Choices.
 

Transplant in general is an extremely controversial topic. I am personal against xenotransplantation. I don't believe that we have to or should for that matter rely on animals for human transplant. I believe it is unethically and cruel to animals. It may be the answer to organ or tissue transplant but is it really worth it. The article states that the only person who survived an extended time period after the transplant was a man who only received cells for his type 1 diabetes. While this maybe good if it goes on the market it will sell for $100,000 and it doesn’t really cover the issue of organ transplant. People who received xenotransplantation all died between eight days to nine months. The risk of infection and disease spread is very high. I belive that the cells may help but the over all transplant of organs is useless. Xenotransplantation is unethical
for many reasons. WiseTo by the Gale Group agrees.
 

Hey Johnson! I miss you...Bio was better than Chem!!!!!!!!
I think we did this blog last year right? You should do the kidney one with the girl and the scientist and the alcoholic again!

Don't recycle my nickname!!!
 

This article on Xenotransplantation is really interesting. It is better to have an organ of an animal than having the disease. However, It might be really risky as we are not yet aware of all the potential risks that are involved. If it is perfectly done, then it can be one of the most amazing discoveries in history, helping patients all over the world. I never even knew that there was such experiments going on. Also, I'm not sure that everyone can take the 100,000 dollars cost for it, but yes, overall, it is truly awesome!

As far as ethics goes, I believe that this is completely ethical. There might be psychological problems after the surgery, but this should be resolved before itself. Other than that, it would just be animal rights, which is not so much to deal with if we choose the right animals, and isn't saving a human life really important???

see an article on Xenotransplantation
by Lesley A Taylor, MD, Resident, Department of General Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
 

I think the discovery of xenotransplantation is great because it can help save the lives of many people. I also think that they do need to further the study to make sure there is no harm to the person getting the transplant. They will also need to make sure hte pigs do not carry and diseases or infections. I believe this study will be very useful in the future.
I think the practice of xenotransplantation is ethical because it can help and save the lives of many people. It also can help treat diabetes and make diabetics' lives easier.
Xenotransplantation
the web site is taken care of by National Center for Infectious Diseases and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
 

Xenotransplantation is an awesome idea. It can help lots of people waiting for organs and who are diabetic. I am wondering about the diseases pigs might have, although the article did say the facility will be "germ-free", how would they really know? I can't wait to see what will happen to advance this new discovery.

On the side of ethics though, I am more on the animal's side. I support many animal rights and feel that as long as people don't try to take advantage of this technology negative things won't happen. I say that it depends on how people exploit xenotransplantation. The article is by The Pontifical Academy for Life.
 

I believe that Xenotransplantation has good points and some bad points. It is great that they have found an alternate way to treat people with Type 1 diabetes. There are also many risks for infection when you transplant animal cells to human cells.Xenotransplantation is a sucessful treatment for helping the 18 million people who suffer from Type 1 diabetes.

I have some different views on whether this practice of Xenotransplantation is ethical or not. Being a vegetarian, I believe that people should not harm animals at all. I also believe that Xenotransplantation should only be used if animals are being hurt very little to none. Although animals might get hurt a little, I believe that it is for the greater good for humans.

Ethical View On Xenotransplantation

Article by: Society Religion Technology Working Group
 

Xenotransplantation seems to be successful and a break through in helping save the lives of people. Personally, I'm not sure if I would want to have xenotransplantation on myself until further testing is done and its proven to be safe, ethical and completely necessary. For those who need this to survive it seems like the safest and most prudent way to solve the medical condition they have. I believe that xenotransplantation is going to be seen more frequently in the near future.

I think the practice of xenotransplantation is ethical because we are able to produce more pigs in a short period of time then humans. Also, It could save thousands of lives because we will have more pigs compatible to the human body system.

My Link


The FDA the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is maintaining the site i choose.
 

I think that xenotransplatation is ethical because it's not forced upon someone. They have the choice to take the pig organs, but they don't have to. Since it's proven to help, it is completely up to the person receiving the organs, and if they had a problem with it, they don't have to do it, they can wait for human organs. But pig organs are more accessible and if it works, i believe it is worth it because its better to know that there are organs in your body that work than to sit around and wait for human organs. An article from wikipedia that tells more information about xenotransplantation.
 

I think the article is interesting and a smart idea. By transplanting pig cells into human diabetics, we can help diabetics live normal lives. There are risks to this, but if your life depended on xenotransplation,I'd take the chance.I believe that this practice will help all diabetics.

I think xenotransplation is ethical. It's helping diabetics live the lives they'd want to have. Even though it's expensive, it'd help save many more lives rather than lose lives.It's wrong to use pigs, but it'll benefit and help diabetics all over the world.

My Link
The article is by Dayna Noffke
 

I think that xenotransplantation is a great idea but it is also a little risky. The positive side of it is that it could help people with type 1 diabetes live a perfectly normal life. The risky part of it though, is that this process allows viruses and bacteria to come over to the humans from the pigs, although chances are very small. This experiment seems to work so far, the patient who was injected is producing insulin fine. I hope they keep researching on better ideas like this one for other diseases too.

I feel that xenotransplantation is between ethical and unethical. This type of treatment just happens to be in need of pigs, of course we're killing them, but for very good reasons. Its not like we're slaughtering them for fun, the pigs are being used for a very good medical reason, to help cure tpe 1 diabetes. Even though the use of the pigs are being used for helpful reasons, we don't want to over due it because just because some of these pigs can cure some humans, doesn't mean it can cure all of them. If the experiment doesn't work for some people, then we would be killing pigs for nothing.

Pigs

This article is by www.govt.nz
 

This article proves how advanced scientists have become overtime. Xenotransplantation is a great idea, even though it may be a bit risky. Besides benig risky, it could save hundreds of human lives and/or reduced the symptoms of diabetes. we as humans may think that pigs are disgusting, but if they save your life you'll think twice. This xenotransplantation may develop into the next big discovery all over the world.

I personally believe that the idea of xenotransplantation is ethic. Some people may disagree based on their religion, but I do not. Saving lives is a major concept and if pig's cells can save then its very ethical. But by no means xenotransplantation is unethical when hundreds of bigs are slaughtered for thier cells.

Xenotransplantation!
This site is by the group Medscape.
 

I think xenotransplantation is a really good idea. It has the ability to save thousands of lives and help cure diabetes. There are some risks of the transplant of pig cells, but if the pigs are tested for diseases and bread in a facility where they have no chance of getting a disease, then it is not all that risky. I personally think tat this method of xenotransplantation will be very succesful in helping many diabetics all over the world.

I think that this practic is, in all ways, ethical. I mainly think this because of the positive effect it could have on diabetics. Also, as i said before, i belive that there is no reason for concern over the fact that diseases could be transmitted, as long as the pigs are bread in a clean and healthy enviroment.

here is my LINK
by Nelson Erlick
 

The article on XenonTransplantation in my oppinion was very interesting. I also have my doubts about the idea. I feel it can be very helpful to a lot of people but it can also cause complications if not doen properly. I feel however if someone wants to take the risk they should be able to. I feel it should be used when human organs are not avalaible. I as a roman catholic support this idea as does the church. i feel it can better the lives of so many as long as it is not toyed wit further such as use on the brain which could cause serius problems for a person. An article
that expresses this same idea is written by the New Zealand Catholic Bioethic Centre.
 

I feel that this new idea of putting pig cells in people with diabetes is a huge leap in medicine. However, as with all medical procedures, there is no guarantee it will work, and there are many risks. As for the price, $100,000 is a little much. Even if the procedure does work, it won't be available to everyone. However, this idea is a great example of where people can take the science of medicine, and what will become of medicine in the future.

I personally don't like the idea of having animal parts inside of me. However, if my life depended on it, I wouldn't say no. I think it is ethical to use pigs for xenotransplantation, because it will help save human lives. For one, it will lower the amount of deaths of people waiting for organs, but the transplant also has less potential for rejection because the pigs are genetically engineered. While this practice will recieve much criticism from animal rights groups, it has a lot of potential to prove itself as a very sucessful, and beneficial idea.

Here is a LINK to an article about Xenotransplantation from "The Medical News."
 

I have extremely mixed feelings on the issue of Xenotransplantations. I feel that the risks people take when testing this out are high. I also worry about what crossing species does to the human body. Would there be a risk of the people catching new diseases because of the procedure?I understand that, if the procedure works out, many more lives could be saved each year. Do I think this is ethical? Well, in my humble opinion, I would have to say that the idea of having another animal's organs, or even their cells, makes me highly uncomfortable. I would not want to have a xenotransplantation. But bear in mind that I do not know how it feels to have an uncurable disease. I would not know how my opinions would change if I did, in fact, need an organ transplant.
Article by Theresa Phillips, About.com
 

That was a very strange but interesting article. The process of xenotransplantation seems to be an awesome way to cure some diseases. Eventually this could come to a “forced evolution” in which people are given special genes from other animals to give them new traits and cause them to “evolve” in a sense. That probably won’t happen for a long time though…

I’m not sure if you could tell, but I don’t have a problem with this. Some may see this as “blasphemous” but it will most likely help us.

Click Here
this article was written by Pascal Ferzli
 

I found this article to be, once again, riveting and suprisingly innovative in the world of science. It is truly phenomenal that modern science has found such awe-inspiring new break-throughs. Who would've thought that little piggies could save a human lives?! I think it's incredible that we've found a way to effeciently utilize a resource for technological advancement, and medical improvements. Some may argue that the practice is unethical but in a sense, it is the same as extracting human stem cells for use in other humans - the difference is the species of the donor! Typically, given my religious background, I often find fault and/or disagree with political and medical practices, however, in this particular case, I've found that I agree with this new innovation. The major issue that I can find is the cost of the transplants, but if one's life is at stake, it should be a price we're willing to pay! A link hosted by "The Inslet Foundation" confirms everything in the previous article and raises and nullifies any worries or suspected risks as very unlikely, thus making the procedure ethical.
 

The article about Xenotransplantation is very interesting. I think this practice is a great idea. It can help all diabetics all over the world, but a down fall is that you kill pigs. But another plus is once the pigs are killed, you can use them for nice food.

I think the practice of Xenotransplantation is ethical for many reasons. First, this practice is ethical because people need the transplant and it is worth the pigs to save human lives.

The ethics of Xenotransportation by Pascal Ferzli.
 

i believe that xenotransplantation is a good idea. The chances of getting a pig illness are very slim so that might solve some peoples problems with it. The transplanting of organs can also help with type 1 diabetes. I think that this is a great step in the direction of stopping diabetes.

I believe that xenotransplantation is ethical. The changing of organs is not forced upon you instead it is an potion to have done. From the pigs point of view it will be the same as lab mice or rats. The pig can't be ill or about to dies because that organ wouldn't be much help.

Xenotransplantation
By www.bio.org
 

I believe that Xenotransplantation is a very touchy subject, however if all other options have been exhausted, I believe that it's okay to transplant cells and tissues of a different species into humans in order to cure/treat diabetes, for example. My only problem with this procedure is that it hasn't been administered enough times to actually be a proven success. Also the average person cannot afford this surgery, therefore it seems like it will only be availible for people who have a higher income. However I find this type of science extremely interesting and feel that a lot of positive results can be expected.

I feel that the practice of Xenotransplantation is ethical. It could possibly save many lives. Also it is a great advancement in our knowledge of science, which can possibly lead to new discoveries in other areas in this particular field. Many people will benefit from xenotransplantation.

The link is maintained by lifescience.net.
 

I found the article about Xenotransplantation to be very engaging. It also seems very risky. I would like to know if there are any side effects. if i was in need i would definitely get this procedure. I believe xenotransptantation would help many people and potentially save a lot of people. I think this is a great idea that would benifit people in need.
Article by Pascal Ferzli
 

good morning !
:D
hj
 

This article was deffinently interesting. Using pig cells for human dabteics would be a good idea but it can also be a dangerous operation for humans and pigs. To me it is kind of gross to share cells with a pig but if it made my life a liitle easier I probably would end up having the transplant done. All in all this operation would do good to all man-kind.

On ethical terms I guess it's ethical. Depends on the person getting the opertaion. like I said it's gross but it would make my life easier if I were a diabetic. As long as no one or nobody is dying im fine with it.

Here is another article aboput using piigies for exnotransplantaion.
Read It!!!
 

This article about using pig cells for exotransplantation was deffinently interesting. Its great for humans with diabetes because it makes their life a little easier. It may be dangerous but it can still help people all aorund the world. With the right doctors this may be a cure for diabetics.

As for ethical terms that depends on the person. If I had diabetes I would get the operation done no matter how dangerous or gross it may seem.

Here is another article about using pig cells for exnotransplantion.

Read It!!!
 

I think this was a interesting article. I think xenotransplantation is a cool idea. This also kills many pigs witch is the down side. But it can help lots of people.

I think is is ethical. This is because some people may not want to get this done because they don't want to kill pigs. But i would do it.


My link
 

I think using Xenotransplantation is worth it if it can give diabetes patients a life that is as normal as possible. Also it can make much more organs available to humans and it would save more lives. However, using a lot of pigs to save humans doesn't seem very fair. And this process may be unethical considering that it is not proven to work 100% yet, as well as the fact that it may bring viruses to the body. According to the information and research stated in the article and the website, i do think xenotransplantation is ethical.

Heres the website:
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/07/20/27866.aspx