This has been done several times. They seem to be treating it as
first-time ever(?) The term "body transplant" has been suggested to
make the whole thing seem less, well...ghoulish.
I believe someone was asking about animal experimentation..?
jm
On 6 Apr 2001, at 18:00, Mark Plus wrote:
> From:
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1263000/1263758.stm
>
> Friday, 6 April, 2001, 10:59 GMT 11:59 UK
> Frankenstein fears after head transplant
>
>
>
> A new brain could be available in the future
>
> A controversial operation to transplant the whole head of a monkey onto a
> different body has proved a partial success.
> The scientist behind it wants to do the same thing to humans, but other
> members of the scientific community have condemned the experiments as
> "grotesque".
>
> Professor Robert White, from Cleveland Ohio, transplanted a whole monkey's
> head onto another monkey's body, and the animal survived for some time after
> the operation.
>
> The professor told the BBC's Today programme how he believes the operation
> is the next step in the transplant world.
>
> And he raised the possibility that it could be used to treat people
> paralysed and unable to use their limbs, and whose bodies, rather than their
> brains, were diseased.
>
> "People are dying today who, if they had body transplants, in the spinal
> injury community would remain alive."
>
> He said that in the experiment, his team had been able to: "transplant the
> brain as a separate organ into an intact animal and maintain it in a viable,
> or living situation for many days."
>
> He added: "We've been able to retain the brain in the skull, and in the
> head."
>
> That, he said meant the monkey was conscious, and that it could see, hear,
> taste and smell because the nerves were left intact in the head.
>
> He admitted that it could appear "grotesque", but said there had been
> ethical considerations throughout the history of organ transplants.
>
> "At each stage - kidney, heart, liver and so forth - ethical considerations
> have been considered, especially with the heart, which was a major, major
> problem for many people and scientists.
>
> "And the brain, because of its uniqueness poses a major, major ethical issue
> as far as the public and even the profession is concerned."
>
> 'Scientifically misleading'
>
> The arguments against head and brain transplants were outlined by Dr Stephen
> Rose, director of brain and behavioural research at the Open University.
>
> He said: "This is medical technology run completely mad and out of all
> proportion to what's needed.
>
> "It's entirely misleading to suggest that a head transplant or a brain
> transplant is actually really still connected in anything except in terms of
> blood stream to the body to which it has been transplanted.
>
> "It's not controlling or relating to that body in any other sort of way."
>
> He added: "It's scientifically misleading, technically irrelevant and
> scientifically irrelevant, and apart from anything else a grotesque breach
> of any ethical consideration."
>
> "It's a mystification to call it either a head transplant or a brain
> transplant.
>
> "All you're doing is keeping a severed head alive in terms of the
> circulation from another animal. It's not connected in any nervous sense."
>
> The issue of who someone who had received a head transplant would "be" is
> extremely complicated, said Professor Rose.
>
> "Your person is largely embodied but not entirely in your brain".
>
> He added: "I cannot see any medical grounds for doing this. I cannot see
> that scientifically you would actually be able to regenerate the nerves
> which could produce that sort of control.
>
> "And I think that the experiments are the sort that are wholly unethical and
> inappropriate for any possible reason."
>
> He added that the way to help the quadriplegic community was to work on
> research to help spinal nerves regenerate.
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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>
John Marlow
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:45 MDT