Experts say pig transplants no problem for Muslims

GENEVA (Reuters) - An expert at a United Nations conference on the
controversial issue of animal-to-human transplants said Thursday Muslims
and Jews should have no ethical fears about transplants of organs from
pigs.
Abdullah Daar, chairman of the the working group at the World Health
Organization meeting, told a news conference that Islam and Judaism's
restrictions against pork were only dietary.
"This is a subject we've been concerned with. But based on the views
of scholars, the majority opinion in both religions is that it (pig
transplants) would not be a problem," Daar, from Oman, said in reply to a
question at a news conference.
"The Koran and the Old Testament...talk about the pig only in dietary
terms in the sense that you cannot eat it. Neither the Koran nor the Old
Testament restrict the introduction of porcine material through...surgical
incisions."
WHO called the meeting in Geneva to discuss xenotransplants -- the
transfer of cells, tissues and organs between species -- and their ethical
implications.
Some governments including Britain have declared a moratorium on
xenotransplants until all the dangers, such as introducing an unknown virus
into people, are studied.
"Human organs will never meet the shortage of organs for
transplantation," said Jeffrey Platt, an American expert.
He said experiments on human beings so far involved transplants of
animal tissues for the treatment of diabetes, severe liver failure and
Pakinson's disease. Pigs were a good match for humans in terms of size and
function, he added.

REUTERS

Headline: Experts say pig transplants no problem for Muslims
Wire Service: RTna (Reuters North America)
Date: Thu, Oct 30, 1997

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