Xenotransplantation - Nuffield Council on Bioethics

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Animal-to-Human Transplants : the ethics of xenotransplantation Conclusion 5.27 This chapter has set out the welfare implications of: breeding transgenic animals; producing animals free, as far as possible, from infectious organisms; and removing organs and tissue from animals for xenotransplantation. There is some uncertainty about whether, in practice, all these aspects would be covered by the 1986 Act. In view of the important welfare implications raised by xenotransplantation, the Working Party recommends that the Home Office should require that all animals used for xenotransplantation are protected under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Any reputable company producing animals in order to supply organs and tissue for xenotransplantation would, in any case, wish to be licensed under the 1986 Act in order to reassure the public that their activities were meeting the highest standards of animal welfare. The Working Party recommends that the standards set by the 1986 Act become the minimum for the industry. 66
Transmission of infectious diseases Chapter 6 Transmission of infectious diseases 6.1 In principle, xenografts, if successful, would offer huge benefits to individual patients. Xenografting, however, may also involve certain risks. This chapter discusses the risk that using animals to supply organs will result in the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to the human population. As discussed in Chapter 4, the Working Party recommends that the development of xenotransplantation should involve pigs, not primates as source animals (paragraph 4.40). One important reason contributing to that decision is the greater concern about disease transmission from primates. The evidence for that concern is presented in this chapter. The fact that xenotransplantation of baboon organs and tissue into human beings is proposed and, indeed, already occurring in the US 1 is a further reason for discussing the risks that diseases will pass from primates to xenograft recipients and thereby into the wider population. 6.2 Many disease-causing organisms (pathogens) are common to human beings and other animals. 2 For example, the bacterium causing tuberculosis infects both human beings and baboons, and human beings and pigs both carry the virus that causes influenza. Clearly it would be important to make sure that any animal used to supply organs was free from infectious organisms that cause disease in human beings, just as it is important to make sure that human organ donors are free from infections that might be transmitted to a transplant recipient. The use of animals as a source of organs, it is argued, would allow for more thorough screening than is possible with human organ donors, and so the risk of such diseases might be reduced. 6.3 In addition to organisms that can infect both human beings and other animals, any animal species will be infected with organisms that do not usually infect other species. <strong>Xenotransplantation</strong>, however, may allow such organisms to infect xenograft recipients who may, consequently, contract previously unknown diseases. There is also a risk that the infectious organisms might cause disease in and destroy the transplanted organ, even if they do not harm the human recipient. Even if not infected with disease-causing organisms when transplanted, the xenografted organ may remain susceptible to infectious organisms of animals. This is most likely to be a problem with lung transplants, where infectious organisms of animals would easily get access to the transplanted animal tissue. Any person thinking about volunteering 1 Aids patient given baboon bone marrow. (1995) Lancet, 378:756. 2 The word ‘organisms’ should be taken to include viruses and prions. While not strictly correct, the Working Party adopted this convention in the interests of accessibility and brevity. 67
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Preface Preface Since the N
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Xenotransplantation - Nuffield Council on Bioethics

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