Pig cell diabetes treatment debated

Two diabetes groups disagree over the risks of pig cell transplants to treat one version of the disease.

Debate over the experimental treatment was renewed on Tuesday by the Bioethics Council.

The council handed the Government its controversial conclusion, after months of public consultation, that the potential benefits of animal to human transplants of live tissue outweighed the cultural, ethical and spiritual objections.

The Ministry of Health would have to decide on the safety of such transplants if the Government allows them to go ahead.

The transplant of animal cells is still largely experimental, although three clinics, in Mexico and Russia, offer them as a treatment for type 1 diabetes.

Transplanting genetically altered animal organs is also being researched - as a means to supplement the short supply of donated human livers, hearts and other organs - but has struck major scientific problems.

Diabetes Youth New Zealand believes transplants of specially coated insulin-producing pig cells offer people with type 1 diabetes, who number more than 10,000 in New Zealand, the best hope of managing the disease without insulin injections or with radically reduced doses.

Type 1 diabetics, who are dependent on insulin injections to control blood sugar levels, often suffer fluctuating levels, putting them at risk of complications like blindness.

Diabetes Youth spokeswoman Crystal Beavis said the risk of transmitting pig retroviruses through transplants of islet cells from pig pancreas was "extremely low".

Diabetes New Zealand president Murray Dear said his group was concerned by the risk of infecting humans with pig viruses. Catholic Bioethics Centre researcher John Kleinsman said "in principle we are not opposed to it".