TheBiologySpace.BioBlog

Would people ever stop giving blood in the first place? I know that this is a “what if” situation, but human blood is not a source that is running out rapidly. If anything, populations seem to be increasing. But if in the future we did need a different source, I’m not sure I agree with using animal blood unless we are 100% sure that it will not cause them any harm. Animals can’t voluntarily donate their blood and I would not want to put any at risk. That seems too close to the previous problem of testing products on animals.Yet, if someone was in desparate need of blood and bovine blood was the only resource, I suppose we could turn to this. We need to be sure though, that this is safe for both the animals and humans.

I am glad that this medical branch is trying to broaden our horizons, yet I don’t think that this is too much of an issue right now. People donate blood all the time-there are enough people to cover all of the blood types, even the rare ones. During 9/11, too much blood was donated, and alot of it had to be destroyed because it wasn’t put to use. If the system is working alright now, why would we need to even think much about animal substitutions? Of course, if the animal substitutions had some benefit, or perhaps could help a person that responds to no other blood type, then I’m all for it, but why would we even consider it if there are harmful possibilities? From what this article sounds like, it’s all a big experiment. I think a series of tests and experiments on animals to try to decipher results is necessary before there is any further discussion.

First of all even if it was tested and proven safe to use animal blood that was modifed for human use I would still not be comfortable accepting the blood.
There are distinct differences in animal and human blood for a reason. We have different bodies that perform differently and need different nutrients. Many animals have different enzymes and proteins and such in their blood that help fight off diseases that animals are seceptable to be humans are not, and same the other way around. If humans were meant to have animal blood then there would be no need to modify it. There is always that chance that something could react wrongly and it could cause a life and death situation for a human being. If this is something that is going to happen in the future then i believe that there needs to be extremly extensive research and trials before it is used.

Well, wouldn’t this be controversial? As innovative as this sounds, I think that a large portion of the population would be completely against this type of treatment. I personally think that it’s amazing how technology keeps advancing and taking different turns in trying to find new treatments and ways to battle chronic illnesses or accidents.

Although, this may seem like an incredible beginning to some… religion, culture, and values are quite diverse and may not feel that this is an ideal way to save someone’s life (ironic?).

The good thing about this development is that it is just that, developing. Extensive testing must be done, mistakes must be made, and techniques must be perfected before the mass-usage of this blood substitute. However long it may take, blood is always needed thanks to endless wars and accidents.

One thing I disagree with the previous comments is that we should never be comfortable where we’re at and say “oh, we have enough blood”, because one may never know what fatal accident may strike next. We should always work towards developing new ideas.

i am a bit skeptical about the of animal blood for humans as i am with all introduced health technology. sure animal blood may have a longer shelf life of 180 days but if that is an issue for human blood to have a shorter shelf life than clearly there is no shortage in blood donations.
mad cow disease is a possibility for spreading in the human blood stream and therefore, i do not agree with using animal blood for human patients.

At the moment I’m not sure if this research is totally necessary. There are thousands of people today that are more than willing to donate blood, and our blood is not going to run out any time soon. It also seems like there are too many unknown risks with the compatibility of bovine blood. There is a reason why animals and humans don’t have the same blood. Living in different environments and conditions the enzymes and proteins in animal’s blood is different than in humans. It is a good thing that corporations like this are trying to help but there are just to many unknowns at this moment for this new technology to be put to good use.

I agree with previous comments that human blood is a resource that is by no means depleting at a fast enough rate for us to be worrying about. However, using bovine blood, if proven to be safe, would definitely be cheaper and less time consuming. On the issue of animal rights, these cows are being consumed anyway, why not use their blood instead of wasting it.?

First off, I would like to point out that while there may indeed be a shortage in the supply of blood donations worldwide, there is also a shortage in the facilities and personnel needed to administer said blood donations. So lets train up some more Red Cross technicians before we jump the gun and go pumping bovine blood (fun phrase) into everybody.

Secondly, to the question of the ethics of using animal produces as substitutes for human products, I would pose another question: is it ethical to kill animals for food? My point in asking this is not to start a flame war between vegetarians or vegans and the average human omnivore, but to throw out there that this is not a new ethics debate, but rather just another part of an age-old one.

I believe that there is nothing unethical about using animal blood. We take care of the animals whose blood we would use, so we’re not stealing form them.
Whether or not the blood is safe can only be answered after testing and I think that testing over a long period of time, to test for long-term effects, should be done.
If a person’s faith background prohibited use of animal blood, then he/she could always use human blood, but if that’s not available, they would have to choose.

I wasn’t sure where to post this article but here it is anyway…

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2007/11/20/bacteria_shed_light_on_an_important_group_of_human_proteins.html

One open question that could be asked is how will the verification of the human proteins structure affect us today? What could this discovery lead to? Why is it important.. etc.

Personally I do donate blood regularly and so does my mom. I can understand where the idea that people will eventually stop donating blood because it is very time consuming and there is a lot of steps to go through before you can donate and you could be on the last step and they can tell you that you shouldn’t donate today. There are also many misconceptions about donating because as much as we tell my dad it is not unhealthy he still believes that he needs his blood (he’s very stubborn). If it came down to it and there was no human blood donated for me then i would absolutely accept animal blood. For those who are questioning it ethically I think you better put down that hamburger because i really don’t see the differance between receiving an animals blood and killing it for food.

At this moment I do not see a shortage in blood donation just maybe not enough people who are willing to do it by choice. People with the blood type O negative are very important because they are universal donors. Here is a link to an article from TIME magazine about a way to convert other blood types to O. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1677329_1678169_1678154,00.html I think this will be a better method before having to resort to using bovine hemoglobin because it decreases the risk of disease and makes one’s blood donation even more important if it can go to people of many blood types.

I know it doesn’t seem as if the amount of people that are giving blood is a major problem right now, but there is never a better time to come up with a back up then before something happens. Worse case scenario, no one wants to be stuck in a situation where there is absolutely no possible alternative. Experimenting with this new blood substitute as well as animal parts is a great medical advance. When something this controversial comes about, there are always ethical questions to be asked and I think that if the use of animal parts were to become a growing trend, the government would incorporate the a question on the back of the drivers license or something of the sort to notify medical practitioners of the patient’s wishes.
Substitutions of the sort always raise the question of side effects. This is the one thing that truly worries me when talking about fusing animal and human parts. Animal diseases spreading into the human race, such as mad cow disease has horrific effects.
The centaur, half human half horse is one thing. Half human half cow? There’s a new Greek mythology character for the young ones.

Well I think if cows blood is cheap, and of course safe, then its a pretty good idea. Because we’re all living things, if cows blood could save me, why not?

But I don’t know how the cows are feeling about this, they’re already being milked, and if not milk then being killed for meat and leather. I think taking blood from them too, would be pushing it.

Honestly I’m not too happy about the future use of animal blood as a substitute for human blood there is just too many variables to consider, but I do see the need for an alternative. Yes, the current system of donating blood does work, but consider that with the unfortunate war in Iraq and the increase of blood infected with threatening diseases such as HIV and AIDS where, “In 2005, the estimated number of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the 33 states and dependent areas with confidential name-based HIV/AIDS infection reporting was 475,871,” there will be, if not already a huge increase in demand for “clean” blood. What if the animal substitutes had benefits that could help a person that responds to no other blood types? Overall this is how Sara Lacock phrased it a “what if” situation and there needs and will be further testing and yet I’m sure that the FDA doesn’t approve of a new drug until trials have been conducted for ten years or more.

The title of this article has the word “potential” in it and it ends in a “?”. We can therefore infer with our AP brains that its not a definite thing yet so its nothing to flip over. Don’t worry! They’ll do tests like crazy to make sure it’s completely safe before they let people use it.

I agree with the whole “what if” situation. There are too many what ifs that could occur with this plan. There are too many uncertanties for me. I don’t think I would take animal blood unless it was my last option at living. I think that for all those out there like me and don’t like this plan we should all go out and donate blood anually to make sure this never has to happen

I guess that just means they need to thoroughly test all the bovine blood before it’s used by humans. That’s already done with human blood so it’s not a big deal.

Right now finding a subsitute for blood isn’t a big issue. Everyday hundreds of people are donating blood. Even if people stop donating blood and that is a big “if”, there are still people out there that need to sell their blood, its sad but its the truth. On the other hand finding a blood subsitute is a great cautionary measure to take. But using a blood subsitute could help by elminating human error when doing a transfusion. Doctors are human and at times could miss flaws in a person’s blood. And if that doctor puts infected blood into another person then the person that had the blood transfused into him will obtain the infection.

If we had a sudden shortage of blood for whatever reason it would probably become necessary to turn to these methods of getting blood. Getting blood from cows seems feasible, could eventually become cost effective but may not be that safe. The blood could wind up indirectly infecting many. And if blood that was contaminated with mad cow or another disease got to even a few humans, there would be trouble. A person is smart, and would understand that it was an isolated incident and no reason for a scare. However, people are stupid and would panic, potentially causing more damage than the bad blood itself because of maybe not receiving treatment, keeping others from getting it, etc. Main point, getting blood from cows is great, other new methods that could come up are great, but they should be last resorts. Lets stick to what we know works consistently until we have to do otherwise.

first of all, i am glad to know that people are trying to find substitute for human blood. it shows how science has grown in years. but the question would be how safe is this blood? do we really know all the animal diseases. can find all the animal diseases on that blood. we don’t really want any more new diseases.
also i like the way humans donating blood for fellow humans. iin my knowledge we haven’t found anything wrong with that. but i like the fact that we are looking for substitute

Well, I think that we are headed tentatively in the right direction. Throughout history, ideas have been first thought of as unsafe (and actually were unsafe)…but now some are considered a standard. Although the blood may not be safe, it’s not like we are going to give it to someone who volunteers. Although, I preferably would not like to use cows blood….if it was a choice between death and a chance at life….I would use the substitute blood.

I work at a doctor’s office, and the other day a big bus pulled up right behind the building. It was one of those “blood- donating” buses, where you climb aboard, spend a few minutes on a hard chair while you get your blood drawn, grab a cookie and some juice and then are released back to the world, feeling like a better person. Of course, working at a doctor’s office, many of my coworkers were completely for blood donation, and we began slipping away one by one to answer the “call of duty”. As the first successful blood donor came back, we were shocked at all the goodies she had received from spending just a few minutes of her day giving roughly a pint of her blood (which would be replaced within 24 hours). Are people really this selfish that companies must offer leather carrying bags, t-shirts, candies, pens, and all sorts of “prizes” in order to entice enough people to donate blood? I was willing to donate simply for the novelty of the matter- I’m finally 17 and old enough to donate. Yet, I would think that most people have encountered enough life- or- death situations with close friends, loved ones, or even themselves where blood transfusion saved their lives to warrant an abundance of willing blood donors. True, most people might not know that the small amount of blood will certainly be replaced, yet this was clearly explained to me while I was donating. I guess most people don’t care to help others, but they certainly don’t mind receiving help when they or their loved ones need it most.

The article in scientific american seems almost too good to be true. However, it does make sense to turn to other resources when the current ones are dwindling at a steady rate. The fact that bovine hemoglobin has so many positive factors is encouraging- you can store the units longer, improve blood flow, increase red blood cell formation… all this from a readily accessible animal. Plus the added bonus that cows don’t have the viruses that plague so many of our population- HIV and hepatitis. I think that once they refine their methods, this modified bovine hemoglobin would be a very good solution to our increasing demand for blood. Who knows, our future may hold a one stop shop- pick up your milk and blood units all at once!

Also, on the note of “ethical considerations”- the majority of the human population seems to be perfectly fine with ingesting the milk extracted from cows, why not take the magical milk of hemoglobin as well? Researchers are saying that modified bovine hemoglobin has certain qualities that could boost blood flow and red blood cell formation (always a plus). Years ago, it would not be uncommon if an ignorant, stuck up white person demanded that their surgeon refrain from giving them blood that was donated by a different race. However, this blood faux pas has died down and now there are hardly any questions asked when deciding whether or not to save someone’s live by giving them a blood transfusion- regardless of who it came from. Could this acceptation carry over to regardless of WHAT it came from?

As almost everybody who posted responded to this article this is a very big “what if” situation. I honestly believe at this point in time there is many other issues that need to be researched before this is.All humans have blood therefore this necessarly could never be a major issue where we would need to turn to a subsitute,but who knows what the future holds at the same time.

For the time being, this doesn’t need to be a worry on the minds of humans, it should be an encouragement though to go and donate blood to prevent this from occuring.

Using bovine blood, from my point of view as a Hindu, as a substitute for human blood would be absurd. However, for the multitude of humans who’s faith permits them to eat bovines, this should not be that big of a deal. If you could ingest the meat that comes from the animal, why not inject its blood into your bloodstream. You’re basically just removing the middleman. Yes, I know many people will think that opinion is wrongly justified but in my eyes its basically the same thing. You are putting an animal that was once alive into your body in order to maintain your health.

This is an interesting story, but I am against it. I do not think that people should concentrate on retreving blood from animals because it is morally wrong. However, I do believe that stem cells can be routed to help production of blood products. I remember reading an article that talked about how embryonic stem cell research can create blood cells or at least provide necessary materials for blood to reproduce. So if Governement allowsfederal funding someday, these ideas could become reality in the near future.