Posted on: Monday, August 26, 2002

Pig clone breakthrough gets cautious welcome

Four cute little cloned piglets bred in Virginia by the creators of Dolly the cloned sheep lack the gene that usually is rejected by humans.

That's a big breakthrough in the weird science of xenotransplantation, the transfer of animal organs to humans. More than 80,000 people in America are waiting for an organ transplant, and needless to say, the demand hugely outnumbers the human supply.

Two years ago, PPL Therapeutics announced the birth of the world's first cloned piglets in Blacksburg, Va. The latest cloning innovation by PPL — which eliminates the gene that spurs the human immune system to reject pig tissue — brings much closer a solution to the worldwide shortage of organs and cells suitable for transplanting.

However, it's not yet a done deal that scientists have produced pigs whose organs will be accepted by humans. We won't know that for another two years, when scientists start testing pig organs in humans.

Meanwhile, many continue to question the ethics of cloning animals and manipulating their genes, and whether too easy acceptance of this Brave New World research could lead to human cloning — as well they should.

How far should one go in tweaking nature? Even in the name of medical research, some warn, breeding for the sake of harvesting organs is unethical and inhumane.

But let's not forget that we humans already breed millions of pigs for slaughter, and in an often-unsavory manner. In some ways, one could argue, the creation of transgenic organs is less objectionable because it may save human lives.

And so we welcome this scientific miracle with extreme caution, and demand that scientists who clone animals for the purpose of harvesting of organs or otherwise treat these animals humanely every step of the way.