Animal Research essays

Animal Research essays Proprietary gene targeting and nuclear transfer technology, or cloning, combined with xenotransplantation technology have proven to be one of the greatest and most practical and beneficial discovery produced by animal testing in medical laboratories. All throughout history some of the most influential discoveries in the field of psychology have been derived from experiments done on animals. There are some disadvantages to scientific research performed on animals but the advantages far more outweigh the harmful ones. There is a vast shortage of human organs available for transplantation. Waiting lists for organs can take years to budge. In America alone, there are 80,000 people waiting for organs to become available, and 15 of those waiting die every day, as stated by Robert Hager, NBC News correspondent. 5,475 Americans die every year waiting for donors to yield matching organs. Xenotransplants from another species to humans is a worthy alternative for someone who is on life support and lacks a compatible human donor organ. Xenotransplantation is a very promising and near at hand future solution to this problem. Making an alternative species donor through genetic engineering is most closely achievable by a leading biopharmaceutical company, PPL Therapeutics (PPL). PPL Therapeutics has successfully cloned a set of five piglets lacking a gene that once made full organ transplants between people and pigs not possible. What we have done is knocked out a gene which codes for an enzyme, illustrates David Ayares, Vice President of PPL Therapeutics. PPL has eliminated a gene that is responsible for making an enzyme that adds sugar to a pigs cells. When an organ that has this sugar added to its cells is transplanted into a human, it triggers a response by the patients immune system, which then causes a reaction called hyperacute rejection of the organ or a cel ...