Organ supply raises health risk concerns
15 March 2000
Organ supply raises health risk concerns
NEWS that organs from cloned animals could be transplanted into humans within four years has raised fears of a new BSE type disease.
Scientists from PPL Therapeautics, the company which created Dolly the sheep, cloned five piglets as part of a long-term programme to provide spare organs.
The company says its breakthrough means an end to the chronic shortage of transplant organs.
But the Daily Mail says health risks are not fully understood and the discovery has prompted fears, fuelled by the BSE crisis, that pig organs could spread potentially fatal viruses to humans.
Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the British Medical Associations head of ethics, science and health policy gave a cautious response to the news.
“What we are talking about is a technique which carries risks for the population at large, as well as the potential to save lives.”
- Dolly team to create flock of 4000 ewes, FWi, 16 September 1998
- Dollys creators plan BSE-free GM cow, FWi, 09 September 1998
- Daily Mail 15/03/2000 pages 6 and 7