News Comment #8
Comments(1) For this week’s News Comment I read an article from The New York Times by Roni Caryn Rabin. The article was titled “In a First, Surgeons Attached a Pig Kidney to a Human — and It Worked.” It discussed the procedure which resulted in a genetically engineered pig kidney working for a human transplant. It went into detail about the procedures and the questions that were still unanswered. Such as will this last long term and are there any other consequences.
Overall I thought the writing was really good. The writer did a nice job with the title and lead. It was enough to intrigue me and make me click on the article. The writer didn’t include any personal biases and no preferences towards anything shined through. I thought it did a good job with just stating the facts and what, so far, was known. She walked through all the information she had and it was explained well. As someone who isn’t in the medical field, I felt like I could understand what was being said. The use of quotes was also very helpful and added to the story rather than just taking up space.
Like most NYT’s articles I read, this one got a little long and if I’m being honest I didn’t read all the way through it. I got to the point where I felt I knew what I needed to and then moved on.
I’m no fan of PETA, but its quote addressed what I was thinking:
“The prospect of raising pigs to harvest their organs for humans is bound to raise questions about animal welfare and exploitation, though an estimated 100 million pigs already are killed in the United States each year for food.
“Pigs aren’t spare parts and should never be used as such just because humans are too self-centered to donate their bodies to patients desperate for organ transplants,” said a statement from the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA.
Just seems like one more way that humans will exploit animals.
Written well enough that I could understand it.