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Doc. 8264
24 November 1998
Xenotransplantation
Opinion1
Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee
Rapporteur: Mr Dirk Dees, Netherlands, Liberal, Democratic and Reformers' Group
Introduction
1. The Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee welcomes the report from the Committee on Science and Technology on xenotransplantation and wishes to thank Mr Plattner for his draft recommendation on organ transplantation.
2. Loss of organ function is a major cause of illness and death. It is possible to treat such function loss by implanting an organ, part of an organ or certain organ cells taken away from a deceased human donor.
However, a demand for organs, which already exceeds supply, is rising. The best way of tackling this shortage of organs is to increase the supply. But as long as a shortage of organs exists, it is important to look for alternatives.
In general, there are two possible alternatives to human donor organs: man-made implants (e.g. artificial hearts) and animal organs).
Experts do not expect artificial organs to provide a solution in the near future.
Xenotransplantation is another alternative.
Xenotransplantation
3. Xenotransplantation of animal organs is problematic for various reasons. In the current situation the risks and dangers are:
a. the rejection of transplanted material;
b. difficulties in relation to the way the transplanted organ functions in the recipient's body;
c. the risk of infection.
Uncertainty regarding these risks and dangers remains too great for experts to reach any conclusion regarding the future viability of xenotransplantation as a clinical technique.
As long as these problems are not solved the risks involved in allowing clinical xenotransplanatations are too high.
Therefore, a moratorium on clinical trails is needed. Research to solve the problem is needed and should be stimulated nationally and internationally.
Ethical aspects
4. It is also important to discuss the ethical acceptability of xenotransplantation, both as regards the well being of humans and animals.
Many experts believe that from a human viewpoint xenotransplantation is ethically acceptable. But, there are also people who, for cultural or religious reasons, reject this opinion. It is important to promote a public debate on this matter. This debate should include the acceptability of using animals for transplantation into humans and of making the appropriate genetic modifications to the source animals.
Conclusions
5. The committee shares the concerns expressed by the rapporteur of the Committee on Science and Technology. The committee supports the draft recommendation but would like to propose two amendments to complete the text:
Amendment 1:
Paragraph 2, add to the existing text the sentence: "Research to solve these problems should be stimulated".
Amendment 2:
Paragraph 5, add to the existing text the sentence: "The ethical problems include the acceptability of xenotransplantations as regards both humans and animals".
Reporting committee: Committee on Science and Technology (Doc. 8166)
Committee for opinion: Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee
Reference to committee: Doc. 8050 and Reference No. 2274 of 24 April 1998
Opīnion approved by the committee on 9 November 1998
Secretaries to the committee: Mr Perin, Mrs Meunier, Mrs Clamer