Myopic View of Xenotransplantation
By Franklin G. Miller,
Hastings Bioethics Forum
| 09. 25. 2023
The news media significantly influence public perceptions of medical innovation. How cutting- edge medical innovation is presented—what receives attention and what does not receive attention—is ethically relevant. A report last week in the New York Times of a pig heart transplant performed at the University of Maryland Medical Center exemplifies a common myopic view of xenotransplantation research. The article describes the case of a 58-year-old Navy veteran with end-stage heart disease, too sick to qualify for a human organ transplant, who received instead a genetically modified pig heart—the second patient to undergo this experimental surgical intervention. The patient appears as a heroic volunteer, helping to advance science in the hope of a long shot at extended survival.
The innovative nature of xenotransplantation gets prominent attention. In a breathless tone, the article’s author writes, “In recent years, the science of xenotransplantation has taken huge strides with gene editing and cloning technologies designed to make animal organs less likely to be rejected by the human immune system.” The pig donor, supplied by the for-profit company Revivicor, had 10 genetic modifications. The patient...
Related Articles
By Cade Metz and Karen Weise, The New York Times | 05.05.2025
Last month, an A.I. bot that handles tech support for Cursor, an up-and-coming tool for computer programmers, alerted several customers about a change in company policy. It said they were no longer allowed to use Cursor on more than...
By Laura Ungar, Associated Press | 04.26.2025
Emily Kramer-Golinkoff can’t get enough oxygen with each breath. Advanced cystic fibrosis makes even simple things like walking or showering arduous and exhausting.
She has the most common fatal genetic disease in the U.S., which afflicts 40,000 Americans. But her...
By Mary Annette Pember, ICT News [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 04.18.2025
The sight of a room full of human cadavers can be off-putting for some, but not for Haley Omeasoo.
In fact, Omeasoo’s comfort level and lack of squeamishness convinced her to pursue studies in forensics and how DNA can be...
Gray wolf by Jessica Eirich via Unsplash
“I’m not a scarcity guy, I’m an abundance guy”
– Colossal co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm, The New Yorker, 4/14/25
Even the most casual consumers of news will have seen the run of recent headlines featuring the company Colossal Biosciences. On March 4, they announced with great fanfare the world’s first-ever woolly mice, as a first step toward creating a woolly mammoth. Then they topped that on April 7 by unveiling one...