Humanized Pigs As Organ Donors
After several rounds of genetic engineering scientists humanized pigs to such a degree that the human immune system doesn't protest much.
Image by Mabel Amber, still incognito... from Pixabay
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A huge limiting factor for using transplants to save lives is the number of organs available. Thus, only those whore are very seriously ill are written on to the list of those awaiting an organ. And sadly, many do not live to see the day of their transplant. Yet, transplants could improve the quality of life for many more patients not only those would die without one.
Finding a replacement for organs coming from human donors is something that is being done by many different teams in several different scientific fields. In some cases, technology can fill in the blanks – this is, for example, the case of the kidney as dialysis is sometimes called an artificial kidney. Or in the case of “broken heart”, a pump can replace it.
But other organs do not have their technological equivalent. That is why some scientists are trying to grow replacement organs in their laboratories. But, so far we have successfully only grown a few types of tissue like skin or blood vessel tissue.
On the other way, that was especially hopeful back in the nineties were xenotransplants. Even large pharmaceutical companies were ready to invest large sums of money in this field. For example, the company Novartis wanted to spend two billion dollars on genetically modifying pigs to be useful as at least short-term organ donors. Sadly, the plans were just too ambitious.
But, it seems better times are here. CRISPR is again opening the doors for xenotransplants. What was just twenty years ago too big of a bit even for giant corporations is now a research option over for relatively small teams with relatively small budgets. One of them is a Chinese company Qihan Bio and its American partner eGeneisis. These companies have now made a massive advancement in making genetically engineered pigs for donating organs. On their own pigs' organs aren't great for transplants for many reasons. For example, the human immune system hates them and attacks them with its full might.
The scientists first cut out three genes that are responsible for irritating the human immune system. They added six human genes to make peace with the human immune system and another three genes that should eliminate the risks of human blood clotting inside the pig organs. Then they cloned piglets from these cells and “deleted” all the instructions that create virus particles that could be dangerous for humans. Again, they took a sample of their cells and cloned new piglets.
Nobody has rebuilt pig DNA to such a degree. The pigs are fully viable, can bear children and laboratory tests show that the human immune system doesn't attack their cells. Further tests showed that human blood doesn't clot excessively in the organs. Now tests in baboons will soon take place and we can just hope that everything will go well. Because if it does we could see first clinical tests on human patients in just a few years.
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Wow, one day i'm going to order a new set of pigs feet and pigs parts so I can and spend my btc and eat bacon forever! Those pigs look extra ordinary. Those pigs look like little humans!
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Disgusting. I would gladly throw the people responsible off a cliff. The suffering these pigs endured throughout experiments... Specially the failed ones.
That is an opinion I would disagree with. While I do not support unnecessary animal suffering this is a technology that could one day save thousands if not millions of lives and make millions of lives of humans better.
These lives only need saving because of other pieces of technology known to cause harm. Other species suffering because of the damage we do to ourselves? That's stupid, specially when those sources of human-to-human damage only don't get dismantled because they are profitable.
I do not believe the reason why organs fail is radiation from everything with a radiation chip in it. The reasons why we see more cancer compared to the past are way simpler. First off, we got much better at actually finding cancer. But mostly, the reason (IMHO) is the fact that people get to live through diseases that in the past would have been lethal.
Apart from obesity, I do not see a disease that would be promoted through the media - adds for - especially - fast foods are bad, yes, but otherwise we haven't even in the past been eating more healthier.
In terms of industrial pollution - yes obviously, we need to fix our ways there. I do not think there is a single person who would disagree that ideally, we need to take care of the environment.
And toxic chemistry in our foods? Some pesticides are toxic sure, but it all depends on a single fact - can you save more lives from starvation or from not using toxic pesticides. If the answer is more people would die if we didn't use them rather than more people would die if we used them - I would argue they do more good than bad.
There are plenty of other reasons than just other technologies causing harm. What about someone that gets, for example, stabbed? He might need a new lung or a new lung could make his life better. Or if I were to take out humans out of the equation altogether, how about a person who will get some kind of illness caused by a bacteria that will make his stomach be in constant pain - doesn't he deserve a transplant?
There are some really good answers, but they are not used because they're not profitable. That goes for food, pharma, pollution and harmful technology.
It is a fact, radiation causes cancer. It's not a matter of personal belief.
From a willing human, only.
Most notably polyculture farming.
I will give you that I forgot about those. Especially about diabetes. But I also do come from Europe and we do not put - by a gigantic amount - that much sugar into our food and drinks, that is why I forgot about that.
Alcohol, yeah it is addictive, but if drank in moderation it can actually have some positive effects. And that is coming from the country where the average citizen drinks over 200 l of beer per year.
About the radiation - there are different kinds of radiation. And each of them affects the human body differently. I haven't seen any scientific studies that would show that the types of radiation produced by everyday electronics severely harm the human body to a degree you are describing. And I do prefer to base my conclusions on scientific studies.
And lastly - transplants:
Chocolate, candy, cake, desserts and sweets in general.
You should look some more up. It causes cancer over time. Will you get cancer from using a mobile phone for a year? Unlikely. Will you get cancer for being exposed to wifi waves, microwaves, mobile phones, computer chips, etc? Yes, although after several decades as their effects slowl build up.
The experimentation itself isn't any less inhumane.
Disease-inducing food is everywhere and you eat it everyday
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BEER.Hey @gamegiveaways, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @eii for you. Enjoy it!Processed sugar is responsible for diabetes, kidney stones and esophagus cancer. It is present in everything from candy to chocolate.
Alcohol is a highly addictive substance responsible for organ failure, cirrhosis and at least six kinds of cancer.
Food preservatives can weaken heart tissues and cause cancer.
Why do most of those organs fail? Because of cancer-inducing radiation from everything with a computer chip in it, disease-inducing food habits propagated by the media, long term effects of the lack of proper healthcare by governmental agencies supposed to invest in these sectors using tax money, industrial pollution, agriculture filled with toxic chemistry... The list goes on.
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Thank you!
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