In my new novel Blood Ties, I explore the real world of mass
blood transference for cosmetic treatment.
Already, my book does not look like
science fiction, in fact it might be old news compared to the announcement that
we will be ready to perform a full human head transplant by 2017.
Sergio Canavero, an Italian doctor, is looking to assemble a
team this year to make it happen. As science progresses, at ever increasing
speed, I ask you, is this potential break through an Elixir of Life or Pandora’s
Box?
1. Sergio Canavero
I have listened to a couple of interviews with Sergio
Canavero. I understand English is his second language but he seems to have
mastered the grammar, so his weird, maniacal way is perhaps normal? In one
interview he actually refers to the first patient as Frankenstein’s monster…nice!
He is against animal experimentation and so the first human
trial will be the first live trial of his new method of severing the spinal cord
to allow reconnection to work, by removing the trauma and scarring usually
present in spinal injuries.
I find animal experimentation disturbing, but I also think
human experimentation is abominable.
2. Rhesus Monkeys
Experimentation in head transplants has been carried by
other doctors over the last 60 years, and searching for these experiments on
line exposes you to some very disturbing images.
They have not been without their achievements. One of the most
successful experiment, carried out in 1970 by a Doctor White, left a rhesus monkey
with, by all observations, a working body and brain.
However, other doctors
reported the monkey was in considerable distress, suffering confusion and great
anxiety for the 8 days that it lived—there was no obvious cause of death.
3. Who might benefit?
The obvious recipients will be people whose own body no
longer functions correctly. People suffering from tetraplegia or muscular dystrophy
will be the first target group. Additionally, he has been criticized for saying
it might help people with Gender Dysphoria, saying he has transsexuals lining
up to volunteer.
Going back to my
novel, I think the biggest market will be cosmetic treatment. The procedure
will cost around $15-$20 million, and so the billionaires of the world will find
this to be a chance to live longer with younger bodies.
In addition, with the new
organs, natural drugs and better blood supply you will see the head grow
younger too.
4. Who would donate their body?
Ethics seem to be drifting behind in the wake of progress
here.
You donate your body because you are dead, you do not need
it any more. The person receiving your body has a new lease of life. This
person is going to do the one thing that comes naturally: sex, and probably a
lot of sex. Your body is going to be screwed by a number of people you have
never met. Maybe, the donor is gay and the recipient is not or vice versa.
Okay, you are dead and know nothing about it but is this any
different than if you were heavily sedated with no memory of the event—it makes
it no less traumatic. The recipient might be an alcoholic or drug addict, how do
you feel about the abuse on your body.
This does ask the question of what defines who we are? Is it
just our mind?
Then there are going to be people who will “sell” their body
at death to give their family money or to pay off a debt or because of threat
or due to fraud.
And what of the jail sentence for a crime of illegally obtaining
a body. An eighty year old might happily spend twenty years in jail for the body
of a twenty year old.
This is Pandora’s box and more evil will come of it than will
be cured by it. Don’t open it.
