Xenotransplantation: a rational choice?

There are many potential benefits that xenotransplantation (cross-species transplantation) might afford us, but there are also many weighty biological hurdles which must be surmounted if this procedure is ever to become a clinical reality. Many of these biological concerns are being addressed by specific and novel therapies; however, we must still determine the point at which xenotransplantation could be considered safe enough for clinical implementation. Many members of the scientific community believe that we should strive to make xenotransplantation products as safe and effective as possible, whereas others argue that we should not need to optimize the safety and efficaciousness of xenotransplantation products for them to be deemed acceptable for human use. In this paper I take the latter position, I argue that "the scientific community should move from the paradigm of...trying to indicate to society optimal solutions to that of...trying to help society in finding 'satisficing' solutions" which, although not necessarily optimal, are, nevertheless, good enough (Giampietro, 2002, p. 466).