Pigs used in controversial research

[Catherine]

I feel bad that it is pigs again being used for research that is meant to benefit humans.
You can count on the pigs  never benefitting from the research.
They may have found a way to restore function to cells and organs after death has occurred. 
This could lead the the possibility of restoring life to a newly dead person.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/scientists-res...51663.html


It is very early stages, but now is when we need to look at the ethics of this research.
It is nothing that hasn't been thought of and written about in science fiction books. I think I have a couple of stories on my book shelf right now.
It does mean that death is not as simple as we thought. We used to think a stopped heart meant death, but we restart hearts all the time now.

It does bring up questions. Will brain function be restored when the body is restored? Is the body just being restored so it can be used for organ donation?
Is this what we consented to when we said yes to being an organ donor?

If it can be perfected, who gets the procedure? It is certainly not going to be available to everyone.
What about the mistakes that are going to happen when they only partly restore a body. What do we do then?

It won't be applicable in every case. How do you tell the family of a dead child, that their case doesn't qualify?

And then there are the pigs. They are being deliberately killed so they can try reviving their organs. As they progress with the research, they are going to want to actually bring a pig back to life. What happens to that pig? Lab animals can at least escape when they are dead. Does this mean they can use the same animal over and over again. There is a certain horror to that.

Now is the time to ask the questions and think about what this means. It is quite possible the research will work some day. Do we want this and how do we apply it. Like any new breakthrough, it could be used well and benefit many or it could be used badly and create more problems than it solves. It is all in how we use it.

[LPC]

Oh, my goodness! You rightly raise so many questions - but the answers are not forthcoming from anyone yet. The scientists meanwhile are pushing ahead, without extensive ethical discussion first.

Your questions are very pertinent and raise extremely serious ethical issues. The thought of lab animals being killed and then revived, over and over again, is morally repugnant. That would make their "lives" into an endless circle of forced killing followed by forced reanimation. The thought sends a chill down my spine.

[Catherine]

Quote:Your questions are very pertinent and raise extremely serious ethical issues. The thought of lab animals being killed and then revived, over and over again, is morally repugnant. That would make their "lives" into an endless circle of forced killing followed by forced reanimation. The thought sends a chill down my spine.

This is the horror story side of this research. It could actually happen.
They stop and start hearts of lab animals. Why not stop and start the whole body.

On the other hand, if a person, who is newly dead from drowning or electric shock, is not really completely dead, we would want to restore them.
We might be ethically obligated to restore them.

Blood transfusions were a big break through. We have saved many lives through transfusions. Humans voluntarily give blood to save lives.
There have been stories of retired greyhounds being kept as blood donors. I know we did a post on it.

http://www.animalloverswebforum.com/show...greyhounds

This is the negative side of blood donation. 
Any new breakthrough can have a negative side.
We need to make sure our ethics line up with our practices.

I can think of many ways this could benefit us. It could be such a lifegiving breakthrough.
I can also think of all the horrible unethical ways this could be used.
It will most certainly be available to the rich  before it is available to  the rest of us. 
It might make it easier to traffic in organs for transplant. It already does happen, but this would make it easier.

In all this, the lab animals will be the losers. It will make some scientists even more interested in doing research on animals.
We are trying to reduce and end research on animal. this will lead to many more years and many more animals.

This isn't going to go away so we will need to look for answers before we are overwhelmed by the questions it raises.