Pig cloners play down human health fears

Last updated: 19:29 Monday 14th August 2000
http://ananova.com/news/story/health_uk-cloning_935648.html

Scientists at the Scottish research centre involved in controversial pig-to-human organ transplant experiments have denied funding had been cut because of health fears.

The Californian-based company Geron Bio-Med, which has exclusive rights to the biotechnology developed at the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, has announced it is to pull the plug on funding for the project.

The news comes as Government ministers are expected on Wednesday to give a cautious go-ahead to cloning human embryos for medical research.

Work on transplanting organs from pigs to humans, known as xenotransplantation, has been carried out at the Roslin Institute for the past two years.

Scientists have been working on ways of removing specific pig genes to reduce the risk of human bodies rejecting the donor organs, but the project has raised fears of contamination from pig viruses.

David Greenwood, chairman of Geron Bio-Med Ltd, said the company had "refocused" its funding in line with "current strategic priorities". Professor Grahame Bulfield, director of the Roslin Institute, said Geron's decision was not linked to concerns about human health.

He said: "The Institute has had a research programme on pig cloning, one application of which would be the use of pig organs for xenotransplantation.

"While xenotransplantation has raised a number of well-publicised issues, such as possible infection with pig viruses, these were not the basis for the decision to refocus the funding."