We should spend more money on prevention and public health programs, rather than researching transplants, which only benefit a minority who can afford them. Our objection is that it's not right to take another being against their will for experimentation. Researchers argue that experimental animals have been used for centuries and that many medical advances would have been impossible without them. All animal experimentation at the Medical Center must be approved by its Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, an 18-member board from several scientific and medical disciplines, plus two nonmedical community representatives. The board made sure all the sheep and pigs used in Beschorner's research were well cared for, that they received proper anesthesia and pain-killers as needed, and, when necessary, were euthanized in a humane and painless manner.
Xenotransplantation is the most regulated procedure of all.
Animal rights people like to claim the societal risk is greater than the benefit, but that hasn't been proven, he said. You're really talking about taking the life of a person versus the life of a pig. And then there is the belief that research in xenotransplantation is motivated not by altruism but by money. Dr. Andrew Jameton, an ethicist with the Medical Center in Omaha, acknowledged the lure of fame and fortune is always a temptation, especially when the cost of research requires seeking funds from private stockholders. But, he added, scientists in all fields must guard against letting profit get ahead of scientific method and accuracy.