Moratorium In Xenotransplantation Urged

Leading scientists have called for a moratorium on clinicalxenotransplantation "until ethical issues associated with the transfer of organs from animals to humans are resolved."

The call came just as the US National Institutes of Health began a two-day meeting last month, entitled Developing US Public Health Service Policy in Xenotransplantation, to propose tightening control over animal-to-human transplants. Fritz Bach, a researcher of xenotransplantation at Harvard University and a consultant to Novartis Pharma, joined six other public health experts and bioethicists in urging a moratorium.

The heightened interest in xenotransplantation stems from considerable advances in genetic engineering which makes it conceivable that the technology will become a reality.