Landmark Pig Organ Transplants Raise a Curious Paradox, Says Ethicist

Putting pig organs in people is OK in the US, but growing human organs in pigs is not – why is that?

While research on human-pig chimeras is on an indefinite pause, xenotransplantation is moving ahead. wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images PlusIn a Maryland operating room one day in November 2025, doctors made medical history by transplanting a genetically modified pig kidney into a living patient. The kidney had been engineered to mimic human tissue and was grown in a pig, as an alternative to waiting around for a human organ donor who might never…