You may have heard that earlier this year a genetically modified pig kidney was transplanted into a human being. This was not the first such transplantation but there haven't been many attempts an this is the one getting media attention. According to an AI summary:
- Xenotransplantation:This procedure is a form of xenotransplantation, the transplantation of organs from one species to another, which researchers hope will help alleviate the organ shortage crisis.
- Harvard Medical School researchers are optimistic that this transplant is an important step towards making genetically edited pig organs a viable, long-term solution for patients.
There are lots of ethical issues around xenotransplantation, although this isn't new. The first transplantation of a pig's aortic heart valve into a human was in 1965, sixty years ago, and there are many people given a new lease of life because of these implants.
I've written before about auditing a Science and Religion course at Dalhousie University around the turn of the millennium when I was a minister in Halifax. The professor, knowing I was a minister, asked if I would research and present to the class about xenotransplantation. I knew absolutely nothing about it but I agreed to do so and discovered that the Roman Catholics had done the most work in developing a thoughtful Christian response to this ethically challenging subject.
There are plenty of pig heart valves available but the unfolding issue 25 years ago was the prospect of raising genetically modified pigs for the purpose of transplantation. Should we be using pigs as, well, guineau pigs, and humans as well, for that matter. And when is a pig no longer a pig if scientists have modified their genes to be more human.
One of Canada's leading ethicists, Francoise Baylis, was in my Halifax congregation and chatted with my once about her sense that science was running far ahead of the ethics related to certain developments. So, where were faith communities in the midst of this? It's still an important question.
When I was a kid I was an avid reader of a series of Freddie the Pig books which were available from our tiny local library. Freddy was a pig with decidedly human qualities and a determined sleuth to boot. I think I still have a copy of Freddy and the Baseball Team from Mars -- no, I did not steal it from the library. Apparently author Walter Brooks was on to something.
We won't even get started on Animal Farm and how "all animals are equal" became "some animals are more equal than others."
As Christians we need to be aware and responsive, although I'm not sure how. Oink if you love Jesus, and pigs!
No comments:
Post a Comment