Genetically Modified Pigs to be Bred for Organ Transplant Harvesting

Email this article to a friend

Printable Version

Articles Related to This Article: • Human medical experimentation in the United States: The shocking true history of modern medicine and psychiatry (1965-2005) • Vaccines and Medical Experiments on Children, Minorities, Woman and Inmates (1845 - 2007) • Human medical experimentation in the United States: The shocking true history of modern medicine and psychiatry (1833-1965) NaturalNews Store Specials: • Raw organic Vanilla powder at 40% off • SunWarrior Ormus Greens at 20% off (3-pack) • Revolutionary new Hurom Slow Juicer at the lowest price on the 'net + FREE shipping! • Certified Organic Nutiva Hemp Seeds at a huge discount (+ FREE bottle of hemp oil) See more at the NN store...

(NaturalNews) A British lord and fertility researcher has announced plans to breed genetically engineered pigs, for the purpose of harvesting their organs for transplant into humans.

"Pigs' organs are the right size for human transplantation, and they work similarly to human organs," said Lord Winston, head of the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Hammersmith Hospital in London.

Health professionals have attempted to transplant organs from animals into humans before, but research in the field dropped off in the late 1990s when early transplant attempts were rejected and attacked by recipients' bodies as foreign tissue. Concerns over the possibility that transplants could facilitate the spread of diseases from animals to humans also contributed to a drop in the field's popularity.

Now Winston and colleagues from Imperial College want to revive the idea by breeding pigs that contain six human genes, in order to decrease the chances that the pigs' organs will be rejected by human bodies. They have formed a company called Atazoa that has successfully created transgenic pig sperm, but their research stalled due to strict British regulations over transgenic animals.

"One of the biggest problems in Britain is the regulatory framework. It's been very difficult to get this sort of animal work going," Winston said.

The researchers initially had to wait 13 months before they were licensed to genetically modify the pigs, then were told that regulations prohibited breeding genetically modified animals on agricultural land.

In response, Atazoa has moved its research to the United States, which has drastically fewer regulations concerning genetic research on animals. The researchers will breed the pigs with genetically modified sperm in Missouri, and hope to produce a fully modified animal within the next two years. After that, they hope to begin clinical trials to demonstrate that the genetically engineered organs are safe for human transplant.

Sources for this story include: news.scotsman.com; www.pigprogress.net; www.guardian.co.uk.

Share

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • Human medical experimentation in the United States: The shocking true history of modern medicine and psychiatry (1965-2005) • Vaccines and Medical Experiments on Children, Minorities, Woman and Inmates (1845 - 2007) • Human medical experimentation in the United States: The shocking true history of modern medicine and psychiatry (1833-1965)	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/025414_research_organ_transplant_sperm.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/025414_research_organ_transplant_sperm.html">Genetically Modified Pigs to be Bred for Organ Transplant Harvesting</a>