China Experiments With Pig Clones for Organ Transplants

People's Daily
Posted : 2007-06-05

On June 3rd, two miniature pig clones for organ transplant experiments were born in the city of Tianjin. They were ten days old, respectively 0.55 kilograms and 0.6 kilograms in weight at birth. Currently, they are well-developed, weighing nearly 1.9 kilograms and 2.3 kilograms.

According to researchers, this type of pig, whose internal organs are quite similar to those of human beings, is used for organ transplant experiments. All drug administration agencies in the world authorized the research of this type of pig for diabetes mellitus, heart diseases, hypertension and other human disease.

China Agricultural University, Tianjin Baodi Agriculture and Technology Co., Ltd., Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Beijing Jipulin Biotech Company all collaborated on this project. Six mini-pig clones were born, but only two of them survived. Experts believed that the two surviving mini-pig clones will provide new resources to develop organ transplant experiments in China.