Ethical Debate: Ethics of xeno-transplantation

摘要

Interest in cross-species transplantation has recently been rekindled¹. This is due to many developments including the shortage of donor organs, advances in transplant medicine, investment in biotechnology research, and the non-availability of more ethically suitable alternatives to human organs. Increasing success rates in allotransplantations (organs from different member of the same species) has increased the demand on donor organs^{1, 2}. Other types of transplantation include autotransplants (a person’s own organs or tissues are used for transplantation) and isotransplants (organs from one person are transplanted into another genetically identical person, like an identical twin). These options are limited in terms of body parts used and numbers.