Sir, - The announcement of the birth of five cloned piglets earlier this week has been heralded as a significant breakthrough insofar as it opens the possibility of a new source of organs for transplantation.
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is opposed to the use of pigs in xenotransplantation procedures on animal welfare and ethical grounds. Farm animal genetic engineering and cloning have already caused massive amounts of farm animal suffering. The development of xenotransplantation is likely to further exacerbate this process. For instance, we know that already some 300 to 400 pigs were used in pig clone experiments. What we do not know is how many of these animals suffered needlessly or were born deformed in the race to produce the world's first cloned pig.
Even if we choose to ignore these serious animal welfare problems there are many unanswered questions concerning human physical and psychological health. No one yet knows whether a pig organ is capable of sustaining human life and health in the long term - not to mention the possibility that xenotransplantation might create a new infectious disease epidemic. The UK's Xenotransplantation Interim Regulatory Authority is taking this risk so seriously that it is now considering barring future recipients of pig organs from having children.
We have no wish to moralise to those who are anxiously awaiting the organ which may mean life or death. We do, however, believe that the animal welfare, human health and ethical issues surrounding the potentially lucrative trade in animal organs need to be urgently debated by the public at large before this technology is unleashed. - Yours, etc.,
Aoife N. Fhearghail, Campaigns Officer, CIWFIreland, Hanover Street, Cork.