Stem cells for dogs?

America’s pets receive better medical
treatment than many Americans do, according to the American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. While many Americans receive less and poorer
health care than their pets do, there seems to be no limit on the amount they
are willing to spend to save their animals.

The Society wrote that American pet
owners spent US$12 billion last year paying veterinary bills – about double
what they spent ten years earlier. Treatments for pets include state-of-the-art
image-guided radiation treatment, stem cell transplants (one for treating arthritis
costs $4,000) and sophisticated diagnostic procedures to pinpoint anything from
cancer to lung disease.

However, intensive treatment of pets can
have positive spin-offs for humans. For example, a new technique for repairing
torn knee ligaments in dogs developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
School of Veterinary Medicine was so successful that it is now being used on
NFL players. ~ AP, Jul 20 

Jared Yee
animal rights
personhood

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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