Animal-to-Human Transplants - the creation of Frankenstein's monsterAnimal-to-Human Transplants - the creation of Frankenstein's monster And the second angel poured his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man. -- Apocalypse, Book of Revelations Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mould me Man, did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me ... ? -- Milton, Paradise LostThis is a big mistake. It only takes one transmission fromone baboon to one human to start an epidemic. There's no way youcan make it safe. -- Jonathan Allen, virologistDefensive reactions depend on a multitude of additionalbiochemical and physiological factors. One of these is thepresence of natural congenital antibodies, which are a vitalelement of the immune system - yet they still turn out to beshrouded in mystery. -- Claus Hammer, xenotransplant expertTorture is useless because it makes people confess to crimesthey never committed. Vivisection is equally useless becauseanimals have nothing to confess. However, it does serve toconfess human stupidity. -- Pietro Croce, leading Italian pathologistI abhor vivisection. It should at least be curbed. Better itshould be abolished. I know of no achievement throughvivisection, no scientific discovery that could not have beenobtained without barbarism and cruelty. The whole thing isevil. -- Charles Mayo, founder of the Mayo ClinicCowardice asks is it safe? Expedience asks is it political? Vanity asks is it popular? But the conscience asks is itright. -- Martin Luther KingWhen Dr Christian Barnard carried out the first heart transplantsin South Africa it was hailed as a major breakthrough once theproblem of immuno-rejection could be overcome. Others could seethat transplants were not the panacea that was being claimed, asthe technique required an unlimited supply of viable organs whichcould only come from the carnage of road accidents. There is nowa huge mismatch between supply and demand. When a fresh corpsebecomes available, medical researchers and practitioners gatherlike vultures squabbling over the tastier morsels.Animal-to-human transplants, otherwise known as transgenictransplants or xenotransplants, are offered as the way forward.Xenotransplants may save a few lives (assuming the transplant isnot rejected and no complications arise), but in doing so couldput the whole human race at risk.A number of new diseases have recently arisen, including Ebolaand AIDS, against which the human population has no resistance. One possibility is that African tropical rainforest destruction(acute environmental stress) has caused diseases to jump species. When a disease jumps species, both disease and host areill-adjusted to each other and the result is likely to be rapiddeterioration and death of the host. This has been seen withboth AIDS and Ebola. AIDS is thought to have jumped to humansfrom monkeys.In Hong Kong a virus jumped from chickens to humans, resulting inthe death of the human hosts. The entire Hong Kong population ofchickens had to be destroyed.Xenotransplants are likely to transfer unknown viruses againstwhich we have no defences, no cure. The possibility of pig-to-human organ transplant may be a transplant surgeon's dreamoption, it is the virologist's worst nightmare.Viruses are able to insert themselves into bacteria and with thehelp of genetic material from the virus turn the bacteria into adeadly killer. Unlike higher life forms bacteria lack a speciesbarrier and possess the ability to transfer DNA laterally, that isbetween bacteria.It is not only the crossing of disease from one species toanother. Problems can arise between human populations ifseparated for long periods. When Western man first landed in theAmericas, apart from the deliberate genocide caused by massacres,many native people were wiped out by common European diseases towhich they had no natural immunity. Today, many Amazonian tribesare being wiped out through deliberate infection.The risks to the human race are great, the patient may not faretoo well either. In 1992, Thomas E Starzl (one of the pioneersin transgenic transplants) transferred a baboon liver into an HIV patient suffering from Hepatitis B. The patient survived for anagonising 70 days. His final death throws make gruesome reading:By turns, he suffered from septic intoxication, oesophagitis,viraemia (the presence of viruses in the blood) haemorrhaging inthe pleural (chest) cavity, and later from circulatory collapse,as well as an acute cough. In the end, kidneys and liver failed,and bile engorgement was produced. The patient finally died frominternal bleeding.Starzl considered the transplantation to have been a success.Pigs are being genetically engineered to make them human-like. The effect of the insertion of alien genes is unknown. Theeffect of the transplant of alien organs is unknown. Genes canbecome unstable, mutate. Genes migrate. Environmental stressinduces gene instability. Unknown viruses may be transferredacross the species barrier. Viruses, previously benign, mayinteract to form new mutations that devastate both human and pigpopulations. The failures to date include baboons receivingpigs' hearts, pigs' kidneys transplanted into the necks ofmongrel dogs, rabbits' hearts transplanted into the necks ofpigs. The scientists who carry out these grotesque experimentswant us to believe they are normal human beings.The effect of the transfer of a single gene into pigs to promotegrowth hormones resulted in gastric ulcers, arthritis,cardiomegaly, dermatitis, renal disease, lameness, lethargy,severe joint disease, inflammation and pneumonia. To producehuman-like pigs requires the transfer of several genes. It isthen proposed to transplant this multiplicity of unknowns andpotential problems into a living person.Pigs are intelligent, gentle, friendly creatures. They like toroot around. Genetically engineered pigs for human organtransplants will be kept in sterile environments (probablystainless steel cages devoid of any stimulation). Pregnant sowswill have their uteruses slashed open to drop their littlepiglets straight into a sterile environment.The first known pig-to-human transplant was carried out in Indiain December 1996 by Dhaniram Baruah who transplanted a pig'sheart. The patient died. Dhaniram Baruah has been chargedunder India's 1994 Organ Transplant Act and faces a maximum fineof 10,000 rupees.In a laboratory in Cambridge (England) herds of geneticallyengineered pigs are awaiting the go-ahead from the UK government.We will soon be able to gorge ourselves on pig until our heartgives out. We will then be able to kill another pig, and gougeout its heart as a replacement for our own.The transfer of pig organs into Man, raises philosophical questionswith a physiological dimension. Who am I? If the organ takes,that is it is not rejected by the human recipient, more than an animalorgan appended to a human body takes place. The organ becomesintegrated into the whole being, the cells migrate, the humanbecomes a chimera, part human, part pig.Although there is undoubtedly an organ shortage that is not thedriving force. The push is coming from biotech companies who seehuge profits to be made from a trade in organs for transplant. Very often the same companies who are engaged in genetic engineering.A trade in organs already exists. In South and Central Americathere are human factory farms. Woman are used as incubators, oftenserving a dual function as prostitutes. Their children are takenaway and fattened up. When a suitable size they are killed andtheir organs used for transplants. The poor and illiterate areoften duped into unnecessary operations. Unbeknown to them theirorgans are stolen. The trade in children is a multi-milliondollar industry in Guatemala. Babies are stolen from streetchildren and put on the market. A similar trade in body partsexists in Albania, now opened up to the full advantages ofunfettered capitalism. Pregnant women returning from a stint asprostitutes in Italy have their babies stolen. Large numbers of babiesare kidnapped and disappear. They are either sold for adoptionor killed and dissected for their body parts. Cats gorgethemselves sick on discarded parts in maternity wards. It is notuncommon to find dissected bodies of babies discarded on rubbishdumps. The market for body parts in the US is an estimated $6billion per year.The possibility exists not only of genetically cloned pigsproducing organs for transplants, but also cloned humans. Thetechnology already exists. Severino Antinori, a leading Italianembryologist, has announced his intention to attempthuman cloning if offered the facilities. The technology is nowsufficiently advanced that regulations outlawing human cloning orinternational treaties banning not just human cloning but alsoxenotransplants will no longer suffice. It will requiredestruction of all the research facilities and an internationalban on this area of research.On 8 December 1998 the go-ahead was given in the UK for thecloning of human embryos for the production of human body parts. On the international scene at least 7 companies are believed tobe in the race to be the first to clone a human.Late 1998, two researchers at a fertility clinic in South Koreacloned a human embryo and took it as far as four cells beforeaborting the experiment. In Canada, a bizarre religious cult,Ryellianans, who believe man was cloned in the image of aliencreatures believe it is their sacred duty to clone humans. Theyhave established an offshore operation in the Bahamas calledCloneAid, and are charging $100,000 for each successfully clonedhuman. They claim to have the help of many leading researchersin the field. Ian Wilmutt, the creator of Dolly, has claimedhuman cloning was not viable and that it is unethical. Followingthe inducement of a large amount of US dollars, he is now workingon the creation of human clones for tissue generation. Thecreation of clones for tissue is the first step towards creating afully functioning human clone.There is an existing and unfulfilled demand for the cloning ofpets. A Texan millionaire has offered $5 million to have his petdog cloned. At least two companies have been established in the US topromote the cloning of pets. Wealthy Saudis are trying to getracehorses cloned to enable them to rig races. Money talks.There exists a multimillion dollar world-wide trade in human sperm and eggs.Human-to-animal transplants were described by Janet Daly on apolitical discussion programme (BBC Any Questions) as grotesque. When the (not scientifically selected) audience was asked didthey agree an overwhelming majority agreed.Xenotransplants are not just grotesque and scientifically flawed,they are morally and ethically wrong. Man is an omnivore andthus consumes animals but that does not give him the right toabuse and degrade his fellow species. Animals, sentient beings,have been degraded to a commodity. They are reared in inhumaneconditions, brutally slaughtered. Live animals are shippedacross Europe with little regard for their health and welfare.Hunter-gatherers respect their environment and all that lives init. When they kill an animal, they always respect its spirit.Transplants are unnecessary and a medical dead-end. At the timethe British National Health Service was established in 1958 itwas expected that after the initial cost the costs woulddecrease, instead health care costs have soared. This has beenbecause of the emphasis on high profile, high-tech medicine, withthe additional drain of subsidising the drugs industry. Manydiseases are preventable and due to environmental factors -stress, poor diet, alcohol, smoking, lack of exercise, pollution. Eliminate the causes and we would all but eliminate the demandfor transplants leaving a residual demand that could be met bythe existing supply.Millions of people die each year. They do not die through lackof organ transplants, they die as a result of war, civil strife,man-made famine, lack of drinking water, urban poverty. Themajor advances that took place in health care did so in theVictorian era at the end of the 19th century. These advanceswere as a result of improvements in sanitation, clean drinkingwater, better housing, adequate diet, elimination of poverty.Even were all the technical problems to be solved, there to be anunlimited supply of parts, it has been estimated by RichardNicholson, editor of the Bulletin of Medical Ethics, that lifeexpectancy would be extended by 0.003% (less than a day in alifetime), the use of xenotransplants would extend life expectancyby 0.02%. Much medical research is worthless. It has little to do withadvancement in health care and much to do with personal gain,kudos to researchers, research teams, institutions and corporateprofits.Closely linked to animal-to-human transplants and equallygrotesque is genetic engineering and animal experimentation.Genetic engineering poses one of thegreatest threats to the planet. In complete ignorance of theoutcome, alien genes are being inserted into organisms, thenreleased into the wider environment.Animal experimentation contributes little to either research ordrugs safety. The diversion of resources slows down medicalprogress. If we treat animals as machines, to be tortured in thename of science, then the screams can be dismissed as no morethan a creak from a door. A growing body of researchers consideranimal experimentation to be worse than useless. By carefulchoice of the animal it is possible to prove almost anything. Feed lemons to cats and they die, feed botulin to cats and theythrive. Aspirin will kill a cat. High doses of Strychnine, afavourite in crime novels, will not kill a guinea-pig. Digitalis(derived from foxgloves) is used to lower blood pressure, but itsuse was delayed for many years because experiments on dogs showedthat it raised blood pressure. Testing drugs on animals providesno evidence that it is safe for human use, but it does provide auseful legal defence for the drugs company as they can claim ittested as 'safe'. The list of drugs pronounced 'safe' is endless- Opren (anti-arthritic, 70 deaths in Britain, 3,500 serious sideeffects including damage to skin, eyes, kidneys, liver),Clioquinol (anti-diarrhoeal, 30,000 cases of paralysis andblindness in Japan, thousands of deaths worldwide), Thalidomide(sedative, 10,000 birth defects worldwide) etc. Dogs weremutilated to gain UK approval for the sex-drug Viagra. An International Treaty is required not only to ban xenotransplants but to outlaw this whole area of research.Web Resources Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine Campaign for Responsible Transplantation Xenotransplantation Concern Campaign Against Human Genetic Engineering Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research Coalition to Protect Animals in Parks & Refuges Fondazione Hans Ruesch Great Ape Project Civitas Animal's Agenda British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection Animal Aid Viva! Compassion in World Farming Uncaged Campaigns SHAC Diaries of Despair Animal Liberation FrontReferencesJ S Allan, Xenograft Transplantation and the Infectious Disease Conundrum, ILAR Journal, 37 (1), 1995BBC, Any Answers, Radio 4, BBC, 31 July 1998BBC, news item on cloning pets, Newsdesk, BBC World Service, BBC, 25 August 1998BBC, Superbugs, Frontiers, Radio 4, BBC, 20 September 1998BBC, report on the trade in children in Guatemala, News Day, BBC World Service, BBC, 17 October 1998BBC, Leading Edge, Radio 4, BBC, 5 November 1998BBC, A Life Worth Living, Radio 4, BBC, 2 December 1998BBC, report on the go-ahead for cloning of human embryos, World at One, Radio 4, BBC, 8 December 1998BBC, The First Human Clone, Panorama, BBC 2, BBC, 8 February 1999BBC, report on virulent and cross-species viruses, Frontiers, Radio 4, BBC, 24 February 1999Rosemary Behan, Labs kill 5m surplus animals each year, The Sunday Telegraph,2 November 1998Stephen Bevan, Soap makers feed animals with chemicals, The Sunday Times, 22 November 1998Sarah Bosely, £100m bill for wrong NHS drugs, The Guardian, 27 October 1998Sarah Bosely, Authority to allow first steps in human cloning, The Guardian, 8 December 1998Paul Brown et al, Gene scientist confronts taboo, The Guardian, 8 October 1998Phyllida Brown, Cholera's deadly hitchhiker, New Scientist, 6 July 1996CAFMR, The Pharmaceutical Drug Racket, Campaign AgainstFraudulent Medical Research, 1993Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, Verso, 1991Steve Connor, Clinton calls for embryo inquiry, The Independent, 18 November 1998Steve Connor, Human cloning may be tried next year, The Independent, 9 December 1998Pietro Croce, Vivisection or Science?, Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible MedicineAlistair Currie, Animal-human transplants could be a pig in a poke, letters, The Guardian, 3 August 1998 Chris Dignan, Beagles were mutilated to test Viagra, The Sunday Times, 11 October 1998John Ezard, Ape rights today, and tomorrow, The Guardian, 11 February 1999Moneim A Fadali, Animal Experimentation: A Harvest of Shame,Hidden Springs Press, 1996Alix Fano, One Man's Meat, The Ecologist, December 2000/January 2001Steve Farrar, Scientists to grow a human heart, The Sunday Times, 11 October 1998Steve Farrar, Lab-grown hearts to solve donor crisis, The Sunday Times, 11 October 1998L Garrett, The Coming Plague, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994Janine Gibson, Cosmetic testing on animals banned, The Guardian, 17 November 1998Michael Hanlon & Greg Swift, Cloned Baby on the Way:Scientists warn that a woman may be already pregnant, The Express, 11 December 1998Nigel Hawkes, Declaration on human rights for chimps, The Times, 11 February 1999Mae-Wan Ho, Genetic Engineering, Dream or Nightmare?: The BraveNew World of Bad Science and Big Business, Gateway Books, 1998Jane Hughes, Stressed-out porkers get anorexia, The Independent on Sunday, 4 July 1999L Hunt, Doctors warn of transplant danger, The Independent, 10 May 1996Aisling Irwin, Geneticists ask to experiment on foetuses awaiting abortion, The Daily Telegraph, 8 October 1998Hettie Judah, What price parenthood?, G2, The Guardian, 15 December 1998Andrew Kimbrell, The Human Body Shop, HarperCollins, 1993Andrew Kimbrell, The Body Enclosed: The Commodification of Human Parts, The Ecologist, July/August 1995Andrew Kimbrell, Biocolonisation, The Patenting of Life and theGlobal Market in Body Parts [in Jerry Mander & Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy, Sierra Club Books, 1996]Florianne Koechlin, The Animal Heart of the Matter: Xenotransplantation and the Threat of New Diseases, The Ecologist, May/June 1996Michael Mansfield, Have a heart, The Sunday Times, 20 July 1997Ben Mepham, Animal-human transplants could be a pig in a poke, letters, The Guardian, 3 August 1998 Mary Midgley, Animals and Why They Matter, Pelican, 1983Richard North, The Animal Report, Penguin, 1983Keith Parkins, Virus - 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