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Man gets genetically-modified pig heart in world-first transplant

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Martin Harran

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Jan 11, 2022, 3:50:33 AM1/11/22
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59944889

<quote>
The transplant was considered the last hope of saving Mr Bennett's
life, though it is not yet clear what his long-term chances of
survival are.

"It was either die or do this transplant," Mr Bennett explained a day
before the surgery.

"I know it's a shot in the dark, but it's my last choice," he said.

[...]

In October 2021, surgeons in New York announced that they had
successfully transplanted a pig's kidney into a person. At the time,
the operation was the most advanced experiment in the field so far.

However, the recipient on that occasion was brain dead with no hope of
recovery.

Mr Bennett, however, is hoping his transplant will allow him to
continue with his life. He was bedridden for six weeks leading up to
the surgery, and attached to a machine which kept him alive after he
was diagnosed with terminal heart disease.



"The pig used in the transplant had been genetically modified to knock
out several genes that would have led to the organ being rejected by
Mr Bennett's body, the AFP news agency reports."

</quote>

Bob Casanova

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Jan 11, 2022, 12:10:33 PM1/11/22
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On Tue, 11 Jan 2022 08:46:06 +0000, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by Martin Harran
<martin...@gmail.com>:
Stay tuned for protests by PETA...
>
--

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries, is not
'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

- Isaac Asimov

Martin Harran

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Jan 14, 2022, 5:10:33 AM1/14/22
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On Tue, 11 Jan 2022 10:08:29 -0700, Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off>
wrote:
I'm surprised that some of the religious groups haven't been jumping
up and down about - or maybe they have and I just haven't seen it.

Muslims would have an obvious problem with using a pig's heart but I
would have thought some of the hardline Christian religious groups
might have an issue with the mixing of "kinds".

Joe Cummings

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Jan 14, 2022, 7:55:33 AM1/14/22
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It's a vindication of evolution that people thought it possible to do
this op. because of the relatedness of man and swine.

After all, if the Lord is supposed to make "each after their kind"
then this blows a hole through creationism.

If some idiot wanted to make a legal case about this - I wonder how
your Supreme court would react?

Joe Cummings

Bob Casanova

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Jan 14, 2022, 12:40:33 PM1/14/22
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On Fri, 14 Jan 2022 10:09:29 +0000, the following appeared
Possibly, but I don't recall hearing of any angst over the
use of insulin derived from animals (now replaced, AIUI, by
mass production).

Bob Casanova

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Jan 14, 2022, 12:50:33 PM1/14/22
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On Fri, 14 Jan 2022 13:51:57 +0100, the following appeared
in talk.origins, posted by Joe Cummings
<joecu...@hoosegow.com>:
It could also be regarded as a vindication of the idea that
God had the foresight to predict the future and allow for
it. That's the problem with such "proof"; prior assumptions
play a large part. I go with the evidence, but I sure as
hell can't prove it's either correct or exhaustive.
>
>After all, if the Lord is supposed to make "each after their kind"
>then this blows a hole through creationism.
>
How, exactly? See above.
>
>If some idiot wanted to make a legal case about this - I wonder how
>your Supreme court would react?
>
I suspect they'd (correctly, IMHO) refuse to review the
case. Assuming, of course, that it ever got that far, which
is highly doubtful; what's the legal precept on which to
build such a case?

Dexter

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Jan 14, 2022, 5:35:33 PM1/14/22
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Dismissed because of lack of standing.

Martin Harran

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Feb 23, 2022, 3:40:44 AM2/23/22
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An interesting follow-up article here. It summarises some of the
genetic engineering that was involved along with an explanation of the
problems of organ transplant and the history of attempts at it over
several centuries.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/02/28/the-medical-miracle-of-a-pigs-heart-transplant-in-a-human-body

https://bit.ly/3LT0J22

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