Xenotransplantation and Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation :: Biology Biological Science Essays

Xenotransplantation and Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation ABSTRACT: The ecofeminist critique of dualism is applied to a consideration of two alternative paths that we might take in transplantation medicine: the utilization of organs and tissues taken from nonhuman animals, and/or further development of techniques for employing human organs and tissues, including human fetal tissue. It is concluded that from an evolutionary perspective, the assumption of a vast value disparity between human and nonhuman life is untenable, and from a moral point of view the establishment of yet another institution based on a dualistic opposition between human life, postulated to be of ultimate value, versus devalued, disposable "other" life is unacceptable. We are urged to forego xenotransplantation and instead take responsibility for whatever manipulations we choose, respectfully, to make with life that is already valued as "self" rather than "other." Technological advances in biomedicine are occurring with increasing rapidity at this time in human history, far more rapidly than most of us have been able to comprehend and evaluate them. Yet it is imperative that we strive to do so, because we are faced with a choice of paths to pursue, paths that may lead in ever more divergent directions with regard to how we conceive of ourselves as humans and our relation to the rest of the natural world. How might ecofeminism, an approach developing within environmental philosophy, be relevant to issues of biomedical ethics, and in particular to the topics of xenotransplantation and the use of human fetal tissue? Precisely because a central strand within the ethical controversies surrounding such issues has to do with the way we differentiate between "self" and "other," and ecofeminism directly addresses the linkage that may be established between the self-versus-other distinction and dualistic thinking, the drawing of sharp binary oppositions that carry heavy value disparities, an orientation that is seen to underlie relations of domination, oppression and exploitation that abound within western culture. I have designated my own emerging view an evolutionary ecofeminist position to underscore the importance of contemporary evolutionary biology's affirmation of the continuity between human life and other forms of life, a continuity that is being disregarded when we conceptualize the self-versus-other distinction according to a dualistic pattern of thought. Xenotransplantation, the transplantation of tissues and organs from other animal species into human beings, is conceived by some as the answer to the "organ shortage" problem: currently more than 45,000 persons are on the waiting list for organ transplantation within the U.