ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a number of the ethical issues; namely the concerns which surround the use and treatment of animals and the potential impact of xenotransplantation on individuals and wider society. In the United Kingdom the use of cost-benefit analysis to determine whether animals can be used in particular biomedical research programmes has statutory backing. The moral worth afforded to different animal species is often assessed by deciding whether and to what degree they share capacities which are possessed by humans. The chapter suggests that the use of animals in xenotransplantation is ethically problematic. An assessment of the cost-benefit implications of xenotransplantation for humans is more balanced than a similar assessment of the use of animals, because the procedure actually offers humans potential benefits: the animals involved will only experience harms. An ethical assessment of xenotransplantation which prioritizes public health requires that clinical trials pose a minimal risk to the human community.
