Article published in magazine Nature It announced a “groundbreaking advance” in xenotransplantation, touting that a monkey that received a kidney from a genetically modified pig survived for more than two years. This monkey and 20 other monkeys used in the gruesome experiment were long-tailed gibbons, an endangered species.
This is not scientific or groundbreaking.
A peek inside this grotesque sideshow reveals the reality of biotech company eGenesis’ experiments. Please read the fine print.
what really happened
Multiple monkeys underwent transplantation, and many died immediately, on days 4, 6, 8, 9, and 16. Ten suffered from kidney failure and had to be euthanized. A further six were euthanized as they approached kidney failure and experienced problems such as extensive blood clotting, difficulty breathing and hemoptysis. One monkey became paralyzed.
All the monkeys continued to suffer, although no one agreed to these horrors. PETA obtained the autopsy report of one of his monkeys, whose existence was forever tragic. The organ and tissue damage was catastrophic. His abdomen filled with blood and his organs were stuck together with scar tissue as sperm leaked into his stomach.
PETA made all video footage and autopsy reports of the experiment available to the public and provided funding to the facilities involved in this experiment: Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Duke University. It requires taxpayers to make testing decisions. Whether there is something to celebrate.
what you can do
Xenotransplantation is a perversion of science, not the future of science. Apart from inherent speciesism, it poses the potential for devastating public health threats from infectious diseases that jump from one species to another.
Learn more about the horrors of xenotransplantation and PETA’s practical, animal-free solutions. I take action To end animal testing forever.