A Life for a Life

Protesters outside the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center carried signs reading animals are not expendable. But for the 35-year-old man recovering inside, the choice had been between life and death. In an 11-hour operation, the unidentified patient received a new liver to replace his own, ravaged by hepatitis B. Since the virus would have also destroyed a replacement human liver, doctors transplanted the organ from a baboon.

It was hardly the first time a human had received an animal transplant; kidneys and hearts have been shifted from chimpanzees, baboons and monkeys into people for decades, though never successfully. What may make the difference this time is an experimental antirejection drug known as FK-506; doctors hope it will keep the recipient's immune system from attacking the new liver as a foreign object. Though the patient had symptoms of a mild rejection reaction by week's end, it wasn't considered serious. Otherwise, said a hospital spokeswoman, "he's doing really well. It's almost scary."

If this works, it may lead to more widespread use of animal organs. Dr. Thomas Starzl, who pioneered animal-human transplants and supervised this operation, acknowledged the concerns of animal-rights activists but said, "Our passion and our commitment is to human beings."