| Can pigs save us? Is this the beginning of animal | | | | of regular coffee into a cappuccino or latte? And |
| to human transplants? Or even human-pig | | | | perhaps with more DNA, the pig might take on |
| hybrids? It seems like this scenario may well be | | | | distinctly human characteristics, such as being able |
| the case as a result of a recent scientific | | | | to talk or read. |
| breakthrough. According to an article in the | | | | Years ago, in the book Animal Farm, George |
| Telegraph in the U.K., scientists in Melbourne, | | | | Orwell imagined a farm with talking pigs, and there |
| Australia used a ventilator and pump to the animal | | | | have been films with talking pigs, most notably |
| lungs to keep them breathing while human blood | | | | the 1995 Babe starring James Oliver Cromwell. |
| flowed through them. And this system worked | | | | But those works were just fantasies back then, |
| exactly like lungs do by sending blood without | | | | used to create a kind of parallel world of animals |
| oxygen into the lungs which came out as blood | | | | with human characteristics to tell us something |
| with oxygen. Presumably, this process might help | | | | about our own society. But now this is real. |
| humans who have lost the use of their lungs and | | | | Scientists have the potential to create pigs that |
| need a some help from our animal friends. | | | | might seem increasingly human. Maybe the pigs |
| The scientists considered this procedure a | | | | might even be able to use computers and type |
| significant breakthrough after experimenting with | | | | out messages with large keyboards. So who |
| combining pig lungs and human blood for 20 years. | | | | knows? You might think you are interacting with |
| But repeatedly, they encountered failure because | | | | and even planning a date with someone you think |
| blood clots formed almost immediately which | | | | is a dream date, but he or she turns out to be a |
| blocked the further flow of blood. So about two | | | | pig! And no pun intended - because this is for real. |
| years ago, the experiments ended. So what | | | | And if such a transformation can happen with |
| made the pig-human breakthrough for breathing | | | | pigs, just think of the implications for adding |
| possible? Well, that's the part that brings up all | | | | human DNA to other animals - or conversely |
| kinds of ethical issues. The scientists added human | | | | adding animal DNA to human babies to give them |
| DNA to the pigs as they grew up, which reduced | | | | the characteristics of certain animals, such as the |
| the clotting and the rejection of lungs by the | | | | power of a lion or the cunning of a wolf. We could |
| human host. | | | | have chimp-humans, orangutan-humans, |
| Thus, the experiment worked. But that raises | | | | wolf-humans, and so on. We already have such |
| ethical questions, because if the pigs have human | | | | transformations in sci-fi books and films. But what |
| DNA, what are the implications for society? Even | | | | happens when these becomes an everyday |
| medical ethicists, such as Professor Nicholas | | | | reality? Do we consider such combinations |
| Tonti-Filippini Associate Professor at the John Paul | | | | citizens? Do we provide them with a basic |
| II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne, | | | | education? And what if a human falls in love with |
| have expressed concerns, since, according to | | | | an animal-human combo? Do we grant them the |
| Tonti-Filippini, adding the DNA creates a | | | | right to marry? At what point do we consider |
| "human-pig" or hybrid. The potential for such | | | | these animal-humans worthy of full citizenship, |
| research are mind-boggling. For example, maybe if | | | | rather than just treating them as the providers of |
| there is just a little DNA, this might still be a pig, | | | | medical aids to help humans overcome accidents |
| though with a bit of human characteristics, a little | | | | and diseases and live longer? |
| like topping a cup of coffee with a dash of cream. | | | | The possibilities for the future are enormous. You |
| But as you add more and more DNA, perhaps to | | | | might even start thinking about your dog or cat in |
| use other pig organs in humans, does the pig | | | | a new way. |
| become something else, a little like turning a cup | | | | |