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2008
Transplants, xenotransplants, xenotransfusion and xenoexperimentation—Are
they ethical? Do they show we evolved from animals?
Photo by Siewlian, stock.xchng
Blood donor
Published: 13 December 2008(GMT+10)
This week we feature four enquiries, relating to the ethics of transplants and the
medical implications of animal-human differences and similarities. The enquiries
are from PR of India, Stephen J of New South Wales, David D of England, and Annette
N of Illinois. CMI’s Jonathan Sarfati and Andrew Lamb respond.
Transplants: Are blood and organ transplants ethical?
I am an M.B.B.S. student. In today’s modern treatment of various diseases
organ transplants seems to be a valuable solution. My question is whether it is
ethical or not? What does the bible say regarding this? I also request you to comment
on blood donation?
Thank you for considering my question.
P R
[India]
You’re welcome. I’ve commented before
in reply to a misotheistic article in a medical journal that should have known better,
which made a quip about blood transfusion:
After all, a Jehovah’s Witness would rather die than receive a blood transfusion.
But they are a cult,denying the deity of Christ, for one thing,
and they have no biblical basis for their stance on transfusions. The biblical injunction against
eating blood (Genesis 9:4, Acts 15:20) has nothing to do with transfusion. For
one thing, we should take Scripture according to its original meaning, and the original
writers and readers had no concept of blood transfusion. And from a scientific perspective,
eating is completely different—eaten blood is digested into its components
so it ceases to be blood, and the body re-uses the components for different things.
Transfused blood is not digested but functions as blood with all its vital
properties for life.
It would seem to be biblically blessed to donate blood, because Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his
life for his friends” (John 15:13), and the Bible teaches, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood”
(Leviticus 17:11,14).
Eaten blood is digested into its components so it ceases to be blood, and the body
re-uses the components for different things. Transfused blood is not digested but
functions as blood with all its vital properties for life.
I think the same principle would apply to organ donation: in both cases, they ameliorate
the effects of the curse, which in the Bible is a blessing. I explain the same principle
to support pain relief during
childbirth if the mother requests it.
Many of the Mosaic laws had health aspects to them. The rules about quarantine,
hand-washing, diet, etc. seem to have been intended to keep the Israelites healthy
and disease-free. See The first
book of public hygiene. With many diseases, the infectious agents are present
in the blood (hence blood tests for various diseases), and with some pathogens,
ingestion can lead to infection. Butchering and eating of animals can lead to disease
transmission—undercooked chicken for example is a notorious health hazard—so
the New Testament injunction against eating blood could be seen as an indication
that particular care is warranted when it comes to blood.
There are also ritual
purity aspects to the Mosaic laws, to symbolize the separation of the Messianic
people from the surrounding nations until the Messiah came. This explains the prohibition
against wearing clothes of mixed fabric or eating lobster (a sea creature with legs
crosses the symbolic land-water boundary).
(Dr) Jonathan Sarfati
Xenotransplantation: Is it ethical to transplant animal organs into humans?
A subject that I think creation science should address is zenotransplantation. That
is the harvesting of pig organs for human transplantation. Pig organs have a naturally
occurring enzyme which makes them incompatible with humans. Genetic science knocks
out the enzyme, and then the organs are compatible. The question I would raise is,
is it coincidental that pigs are unclean animals in the Law of Moses. Could unclean
mean that they cannot be transplanted into humans without causing disease?
Yours Faithfully
Stephen J.
[New South Wales, Australia]
I think the principles, if not the specifics, governing xenotransplantation
were covered in Dr Batten’s article
Frankenstein foods? Genetically modified foods and the Bible, Creation
24(4):10–13, 2002. That was one aim of such an article—to
give readers the tools to think about other bioethical issues.
If the technique saves lives, it is likely to be permissible under the Dominion Mandate that gives humans the right to use animals for our benefit.
One point Dr Batten made is that the distinction between clean and unclean animals
was part of the Mosaic Law, which applied only to Israel from the Exodus to the
Resurrection (see The Law of
Moses and the Law of Christ). The New Testament explicitly states that all
animals are now clean (1 Timothy 4:4; Acts 10:9–15). Another point is if the technique
saves lives, it is likely to be permissible under the Dominion Mandate that gives
humans the right to use animals for our benefit.
This does not mean that xenotransplantation is not without risk of infection from
viruses carried by the animal organ, but some risk also applies to transplantation
from human to human. This is another ‘wisdom’ issue (cf. the discussions
on the ‘creationist views’ of
vaccination, global warming
and environmentalism).
It is conceivable that there could be higher health risks associated with some animals
than with others, and that this may have been a factor in God’s designation
of certain animals as clean and others as unclean.
Yours Faithfully
(Dr) Jonathan Sarfati
Xenotransfusion: If we evolved from apes, why not use monkey blood for transfusions?
Dear Sir
Having read the Creation magazine, may I put a thought to you, if we all come from
monkeys, why do we not use monkeys’ blood and other blood for human blood
transfusions? We use only human blood for human transfusions and for medical uses.
If monkey blood is not like human blood, why not say so, for this would stop evolutionists
in their tracks. I understand that pigs’ internal organs are more like ours,
but some people would not like pig organs in them.
I have been in contact with a humanist who is an ardent evolutionist. I asked him
as he believed that humans came from apes, why he did not mate with an ape and then
they would have a missing link. Also why do they not have apes’ blood for
a transfusion, and use apes’ body parts; that is if we all came from an ape.
But he only could say that this happened a long time ago. I believe this could be
used against evolution. They say much but fail to back up their words.
Yours in His Name
David D
[England]
Animals and people were designed by the same Creator, so it is no surprise that
different creatures will have some biological subsystems in common while other organs/systems
differ. It makes sense for a designer to reuse certain subsystems. The same principle
applies with things built by humans. See
Are look-alikes related?
Note that just because two different creatures may have one very similar organ,
this does not mean their other organs will be similar.
Animals and people were designed by the same Creator, so it is no surprise that
different creatures will have some biological subsystems in common while other organs/systems
differ. It makes sense for a designer to reuse certain subsystems.
Evolution is at a loss to explain unpredictable internal congruencies between organisms
that outwardly bear little resemblance to one another. For a prominent evolution-hostile
example, see the ‘Bananas
in pyjamas?’ paragraph in our article
Furry little humans?
Various pig organs have been transplanted into humans. I understand transplanting
pig thyroid glands into humans has been a fairly standard treatment for many years
now in some countries. Pig heart valves are also being used in humans. I am unaware
of any ape organs having been transplanted into humans.
Regarding blood transfusions between different creatures, note that even human-to-human
transfusions are dangerous unless the blood groups are compatible (see also
Blood types and their origin: Countering the Critics). This is because the
recipient’s immune system can destroy the donated red blood cells, releasing
hemoglobin and causing kidney failure. So even greater prudence and care would be
warranted if using non-human blood.
Another medical reason for not using monkey blood for humans needing transfusions
could be unrelated to the degree of similarity between monkey blood and human blood.
All sorts of viruses and other potentially pathological factors can be found in
blood. A great fear involved with any xenotransplant is that of introducing previously-unknown
diseases. The Red Cross will not accept donations from men who have engaged in male-to-male
sex, due to the higher risk of that blood containing known pathogens. Imagine the
risks in using blood from creatures that could be carrying unknown potential
pathogens.
Evolutionists today are generally inconsistent in many ways. However, this may be
something to be thankful for—the Nazis backed up their evolutionary beliefs
with actions by exterminating Jews, Gypsies, and other ethnic groups they classed
as inferior (see The Darwin-Hitler
connection). And Stalin backed up his evolutionary beliefs with actions
by commissioning his top scientist to develop an army of half-human half-ape super-soldiers—unsuccessfully
of course, because apes and humans will not hybridize. See
Stalin’s ape-man superwarriors. Regrettably, in many situations evolutionists
do still back up their beliefs with actions (abortion,
euthanasia, eugenics).
Yours sincerely
Andrew Lamb
Xenoexperimentation: If we are different to animals, why test things on animals
first?
Photo Wikipedia
Sir,
Why do people do animal research? Man has a separate creation from the animals.
We are distinctly different. If that is the case why do we do medical experiments
on animals? Wouldn’t the experiments be useless since we are so different?
An analogy would be testing antibiotics on plants, which are also different but
useless for large amounts of medical research. What is the similarity that we have
with animals that allows us to do medical testing? I am not talking about the ethical
aspect—assuming God put us in charge, that gives mankind the right—but
the physiology of the tests even being a possibility due to the extreme differences
between kinds?
Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
Annette N
[Illinois, USA]
Various animals, like rats, rabbits, and monkeys have particular organs or physiological
subsystems that are very similar to the corresponding organs/systems in humans,
making them suitable for tests related to those organs/systems. Humans and animals
are not entirely different, physiologically. It would not be expected that
they would be, on the basis that one intelligent Creator would be likely to use
the same design elements across different created kinds, just like an engineer would
reuse some components in designing various models of a car.
Consider the original Porsche and the Volkswagen ‘Beetle’ cars. They
both have air-cooled, flat, horizontally-opposed, 4-cylinder engines in the rear,
independent rear suspension, two doors and trunk/boot in the front—because
both were designed by the father-son team Ferdinand Porsche Sr. and Jr.
In 2006, a new drug was tested safely on twenty monkeys, but nearly killed the six
human subjects it was tested on
Similarly, a rat’s immune system works much like ours; they have similar blood
glucose homeostasis; nervous system, etc. If there were not the similarities between
different created kinds of animals and humans, we might be inclined to conclude
that there are many creators, not just one. This is the ‘biotic message’
(see the book of this title
by ReMine, and this review)—the
thread of similarity that runs through all living things that speaks of one Designer, one Engineer who created everything.
Reuse of features indicates the Creator’s authority over and mastery of His
creation (see ‘Not to
Be Used Again’: Homologous Structures and the Presumption of Originality as
a Critical Value).
So, it is useful to study the organs and systems of animals to get an understanding
of our own, but always with the proviso that we are different and what applies to
animals needs to be verified in humans before we can say that this is how we work.
Some drugs, for example, differ in their effects. For example, cats cannot take
morphine or aspirin and horses cannot take morphine, while both these drugs can
provide effective pain relief in humans.
In a dramatic example in 2006, a new drug was tested safely on twenty monkeys, but
nearly killed the six human subjects it was tested on.1,2
Yours sincerely
Andrew Lamb
Related articles
Further reading
Related resources
References
- Coghlan, A., Mystery over drug
trial debacle deepens, New Scientist <http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9734>,
14 August 2006.
- Trial drug affected
animal glands, BBC News, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4823992.stm>,
20 March 2006.
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