Xenotransplantation: Injustice, Harm, and Alternatives for Addressing the Organ Crisis

Abstract

Xenotransplantation is increasingly touted as the solution to the organ crisis. Some bioethicists, however, have raised concerns about xenotransplantation's implications for health justice and animal welfare. We develop and sharpen these worries, and we explore how they might be mitigated. We compare xenotransplantation with several alternatives for addressing the organ crisis, including directing more money toward public health interventions, and argue that these alternatives are ethically preferable. In light of this, we argue that xenotransplantation is not a justifiable method of addressing the organ crisis. Societal funds and attention ought instead be directed toward more efficient and ethically superior solutions.