Scientists insert human genes into pigs to grow organs for transplant, but is it ethical?

Scientists hope to address organ shortage, but must grapple with ethical questions first.

It's a bad time to be a pig. Pigs are made of meat that humans find delicious, cultured meat is still a decade away, and now humans have learned how to grow their organs inside pig bodies. While this is good news for people who need transplants, ethical and humane questions are being raised.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - The first chimeras, that is pigs with human organs inside them, are being grown at the University of California, Davis campus in northern California. A chimera is an animal made of two or more different animals, originally conceived in Geek mythology. Today, with advancements in gene editing, human DNA is being inserted into pig embryos to grow human organs.

Right now, no chimeras are being born. When pig eggs are fertilized, their are genes edited and a human gene is inserted, but the resulting embryos are only allowed to gestate for 28 days. After that, they are removed from the sow and dissected to follow the development of the human organ inside the embryo's body.

At this time, scientists are trying to grow a human pancreas inside an embryonic pig. They later hope to grow hearts, livers, kidneys and corneas.

However, like all medical advancements, there's a darker side to the story.

Early experiments used human stem cells to produce new organs, but those cells often spread throughout the embryo's body, settling in different organs. There's concern over what could happen if these cells settle in the embryo's brain. Would the pig develop a human brain?

The ethical concerns are the reason why, at least at UC Davis, the embryos are not allowed to develop beyond 28 days. However, no such concerns are likely to be considered by all researchers. Doctors in China, for example, may also be developing the same procedures but without the qualms about human cells spreading randomly throughout the pig's body.

Scientists do believe the odds of a pig developing a human brain are quite low, but it is something they are watching for until they better understand the process.

Other concerns are more simple, such as the greater degree of animal suffering that could result from the growing of additional pigs for organs. These pigs would likely not be consumed, having human genes mixed in.

The growing of human organs inside pigs could help stem the massive shortage of human organs available for donation, saving thousands of human lives each year. However, the value of this lifesaving science is for naught if it cannot be done ethically and humanely.

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