The Disadvantages of Xenotransplantation
A potentially negative aspect of Xenotransplantation, one of the reasons why people disapprove of it is the common belief that the process is unsafe. They believe it can pass on diseases like PERV(Porcine Endogenous Retrovirus) which is found in pigs and will spread like AIDS to the transplant recipient. A large portion of the population also believes that the transplant recipient can acquire cancer after a period of time. Due to the early nature of the procedure this has not been proven yet, although many people believe that it already has.
Another reason which strengthens the argument that Xenotransplantation should not be allowed is that when Dolly the sheep was cloned, 270 eggs were used and only one reached maturity. Dolly (the sheep egg that reached maturity) still only lived half the normal life span of a sheep. This suggests that Xenotransplantation would require a significant chunk of time to develop for it to even be considered as a viable replacement for organ donors.
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