I’ve know for many years that pigs contribute a lot to human health. They produce insulin for diabetics and do amazing things for skin grafts. In fact, I’ve read where they are amazingly close to human physiology. But, this article goes a bit further.
One day, you just might become one of the 20 Americans who die each day waiting for an organ. Indeed, forces that improve American health in other ways threaten to make the shortage of transplant organs even more acute: Safer vehicles cut into supply; longer life spans exacerbate demand. Even though 58 percent of adults in the United States have registered as donors, demand still outpaces supply and most likely always will.
Here are some of the current uses for pigs:
One consequence of xenotransplantation being always just around the corner is that pigs have been quietly insinuating their way into our bodies for some time now. Their pancreas glands have been used to make some types of insulin, and their intestinal tissue has been used to make the blood thinner heparin. Cardiac surgeons reach for pig heart valves to replace leaky and hardened human plumbing, and eye surgeons have affixed pig corneas to damaged human eyes. But a major organ — something that beats or filters or secretes just as well as it did for its donor — presents far greater challenges. Unless the recipient’s immune system is effectively deceived or suppressed, the incoming organ is destined for a very fleeting second act.
It’s all in the experimental stages right not but pigs are being bred to be able to replace organs needed by humans. More of the story is @ 20 Americans Die Each Day Waiting for Organs. Can Pigs Save Them?
One day, you just might become one of the 20 Americans who die each day waiting for an organ. Indeed, forces that improve American health in other ways threaten to make the shortage of transplant organs even more acute: Safer vehicles cut into supply; longer life spans exacerbate demand. Even though 58 percent of adults in the United States have registered as donors, demand still outpaces supply and most likely always will.
Here are some of the current uses for pigs:
One consequence of xenotransplantation being always just around the corner is that pigs have been quietly insinuating their way into our bodies for some time now. Their pancreas glands have been used to make some types of insulin, and their intestinal tissue has been used to make the blood thinner heparin. Cardiac surgeons reach for pig heart valves to replace leaky and hardened human plumbing, and eye surgeons have affixed pig corneas to damaged human eyes. But a major organ — something that beats or filters or secretes just as well as it did for its donor — presents far greater challenges. Unless the recipient’s immune system is effectively deceived or suppressed, the incoming organ is destined for a very fleeting second act.
It’s all in the experimental stages right not but pigs are being bred to be able to replace organs needed by humans. More of the story is @ 20 Americans Die Each Day Waiting for Organs. Can Pigs Save Them?
