Xenotransplantation: a problematic world behind a glamorous facade

The discussion about the ethics of xenotransplantation seems to focus upon the benefits for individual patients and the potential risks for human society, in general, to contract a newly emerging retrovirus. In these risk-benefit considerations, the moral concern for the research animals involved appears to be absent. This is remarkable, because the presumed successful xenograft is not expected very soon. A lot of basic problems in pig and primate xenotransplantations still need solving. These new experiments in our own biomedical laboratories raise questions regarding animal welfare and ethical justification in the light of possible alternative strategies. In this article, I discuss some of the moral issues related to preclinical, fundamental xenotransplantation research.