Stephanie Brown

About the author: Stephanie Brown is a writer and animal rights activist living in Toronto, Canada.

Transplanting organs from animals to humans, called xenotransplantation, would place the public at risk and should be banned. To date, every human recipient of an animal organ has died because their bodies have rejected the organs. Despite rigorous screening of the donor animal and monitoring of the recipient, there is still the danger that an unknown virus will be transmitted from an animal into the human population. Another consideration is the welfare of the animals; the lives of animal donors is abnormal and brief. While some scientists recognize the risks of xenotransplantation and have withdrawn support for it, animal organ suppliers and immunosuppression drug providers see the profit potential and are pressing for its...