Sunday 8 May 2016

7. Xenotransplantation - using animal organs to save humans





Organ transplants save human lives. There is always a shortage of available human organs, and many animal organs would be suitable.




Should we use animal organs for human organ transplants?

5 comments:

  1. Xenotransplantation... I'm against it one of the biggest problems is animal viruses have the ability to jump specie barriers and kill humans. Viruses that are harmless to their animal hosts can be deadly when transmitted to humans for example macaque herpes is harmless to macaque monkeys but lethal to humans, it isnt only bad for humans it can be bad for animals too biotechnology companies are breeding pigs with human genes with the hopes of fooling the human immune system in to accepting a foreign organ from another species. Xenotransplantation also poses significant threats to the environment In March 1999, a community in Sarpy County, Nebraska denied a permit to a xenotransplantation pig breeding/research facility because of environmental concerns alone.

    Jorja

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  2. Xenotransplantation saves lives, it cures people of disease and could stop your loved on from dying.Would you really risk a family member or friends life for your opinion?
    Although you may assume xenotransplantation is like putting an unfamiliar creature in your loved one's body it isn't animals can share up to 99.9% the same DNA, and isn't cruel diseases like cancer what we're trying to defeat through this.

    We haven't even looked at the effects this puts on the black markets see xenotransplantation doesn't only save people's lives it can decrease the level of human organs on the black market. There are 550,000 Americans with heart disease every year and more than 50,000 of them die while waiting for heart transplants but xenotransplants offers a faster and more affordable option.

    You may be worried about “macaque herpes” because it is harmless to macaque monkeys but lethal to humans,but look at the stats they commonly use pig organs and pigs are not macaque monkeys and will never be monkeys.Don't you realise there was 977.27 million pigs in 2013 and the numbers are just going up so what's the matter with saving someone's life?

    One of the greatest things about xenotransplantation is we could save millions of lives.Were honestly running out of time and if you say xenotransplantation is a risk,it would be a risk worth taking to cure such terrible diseases.Could you really dismiss a way to save your loved one's life even if the cost is a pigs life that would have been dinner any way.

    Amiria.

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    Replies
    1. Amiria this needs to stop! This world is overpopulated, there are 7.4 billion people today and it has been estimated that there will be around 16 billion people by 2100. There are people going hungry, people who are homeless and people who are poor without jobs. In fact there are more than 500,000 people homeless in the united states and a child dies every 10 seconds from hunger. These are pretty depressing facts, but it’s even more depressing the fact that you want even MORE people saved. If there is more people saved then there will be more people in the world, and there will be more people in this situation. Anyway, we don’t even know how safe this whole xenotransplantation is in fact 2.2 billion people die a year from animal to human diseases, and if we carry on with the idea about xenotransplantation then there will be even more people dying a year from animal to human diseases.
      Trinity.

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  3. Scientists have discovered a new way of doing organ and tissue transplants that eventually will change the world. Their new idea is to do a Xenotransplantation which is when someone takes a organ or a tissue from a animal and then transplant it into a human. Surgeons will be using pigs, chimpanzees, baboons, or monkeys for the operation. I am against that.

    It is a horrible idea to do this, you're torturing animals, it is animal abuse, I know that because the oxford dictionary describes torturing as "someone who suffers a great amount of physical or mental suffer" and that's what happens to these animals.

    Another thing to consider is that we don't actually know how safe this new idea is. For example Thomas Starzl from university of Pitsburough medical center did a operation on two patients, transplanting baboon livers into them. Both of them died after the operation. And then there's the diseases that animals carry. For example the Macque herpes is harmless to Macque monkeys, but is deadly to humans. This is a problem because there loads of people will be dying because of this which will cause pain and grief to their loved ones.

    Sure, people will suffer more without xenotransplantations, there will be more deaths, but that’s ok we can not save everyone. The world is already over-populated and there is too many people to feed. This is very important because if there is too many people then people will go hungry because there will not be enough food, there will also be more homeless people and not enough jobs. It is unfair to bring the animals into the problem.

    These xenotransplantations are extremely expensive, being up to $50,000. According to the 1996 institute of medicine report xenotransplantations could increase annual transplantation costs from $3 to over $20 billion.
    How will people be able to afford this?

    Organs are made up of millions of tiny cells which carry DNA. (deoxyribonucleic acid) If someone has a organ transplant, the DNA will stay with that organ and will continue to grow in the patient’s body. If your parents have a animal organ also known as a Xenotransplantation, then they have a baby, then the baby will have Animal DNA in them. There is a solution to this. Other humans do organ transplants, and that’s enough. That’s why I think Xenotransplantations are a horrible idea.

    Trinity

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  4. I'm against xenotransplantation


    Definition for xenotransplantation:
    The process of grafting or transplanting organs or tissue between members of different species.
    My thoughts on this are: Companies involved in research on xenotransplantation maintain that their pigs are extremely well looked after, but the pigs are subjected to a number of surgical procedures and tests to make sure they healthy organs that will be used in transplantation.
    Do we have the right to use pigs in this way. If we don’t have the right to use pigs for xenotransplantation, do we have the right to eat them? Does xenotransplantation entail the undesirable crossing of the human/animal boundary in society. In some cultures pigs are considered unclean and religions such as Islamic and Judaism this would not be accepted.
    People could accept a xenotransplant but later feel awful about the thought of a pig heart or valve being inside their body, but pig tissue is the closest tissue to human tissue.
    As a thought maybe it would be better if we put the effort into public health system campaigning, a healthier way of living such as exercise and not necessarily diet but a healthier way of eating, not all health problems are caused by a bad diet though.
    Xenotransplantation could benefit thousands of people by providing an unlimited supply of cells, tissues and organs with many uses:
    replacing diseased organs such as hearts
    lungs, livers, pancreases and kidneys.
    Cell transplant: replacing damaged or destroyed cells in diseases such as diabetes,
    Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's disease.
    Tissue transplant: is a skin grafts, cornea transplants or bone transplants.
    Bridging transplant: providing organ function externally to patients with organ failure.
    These things are killing animals and people, what if you were waiting for these organs to be donated and you ended up dying while waiting . A fact is that about 10 people die waiting for organs. So how much time would you have to wait for a heart or organ transplant.
    The chances are that your body may still reject another human organ donor as well. It is not a guarantee that they work, look at Jonah Lomu. You only need to pick up an infection and your body will start to reject any foreign bodies from your body.

    Jared

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