Pigs are being used to grow organs for human transplants. Their organs are being used for transplants instead of finding a human-sourced organ; these are genetically engineered organs. Production of genetically engineered organs is a new way of producing organs from one single cell. Once scientists discover how to utilize pig organs as transplants and solve the difficulties, genetically engineered organs can be used to help people live a longer and healthier life.
Scientists are getting closer to putting pig organs in humans as transplants. As mentioned in a 2015 Smithsonian Mag.com article, The Future of Animal-to-Human Organ Transplants, “Surgeons managed to keep one of Revivicor’s genetically modified pig hearts alive inside a baboon’s stomach for 945 days.“(Hansman, Heather) Pig organs are of a similar size to human organs and they are easy to breed; this helps to explain why they have been a target for xenotransplantation, the process of grafting or transplanting organs or tissues between members of different species. “The challenge is to target the genes that human bodies reject and then find ways to edit them,” says Heather Hansman in a 2015 Smithson article. Once scientists develop a process to use pigs to grow human organs and use them for transplants, it will bring major innovation to the medical field.
There are issues that can be caused by transplanting pig organs in humans, however. According to a 2017 article from TheAtlantic, Genetically Engineering Pigs to Grow Organs for People, “The first problem is pig organs provoke a massive and destructive immune response in humans—far more so than an organ from another person.” (Zhang, Sarah) “The second problem is less obvious: Pig genomes are rife with DNA sequences of viruses that can infect human cells,“ said Sarah Zhang, “…organs would go from a product of chance—someone young and healthy dying, unexpectedly—the product of a standardized manufacturing process.” With these problems unsolved there could be a huge barrier between life and death.
With scientists solving problems faster and getting closer to making successful transplants, people can live a longer and healthier life with the use of genetically engineered organs. Using this new scientific research, we can save animals and humans for generations beyond. Once scientists solve organs, transplanting them can unlock a new opportunity for medical care.