The world’s first clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of xenotransplantation (XT), in which kidneys from genetically modified pigs are transplanted into human recipients, is underway. As the trial may bring XT closer to clinical reality, it is important to understand what the public make of XT and associated emerging technology. In this paper we share the findings of our research which examined how the public engages with the science and ethics of XT. Our analysis draws on responses to a survey on public attitudes towards XT in the UK.
We show that the public, through thinking about XT, reveal it not only as a biomedical intervention but also as a site of multiple potentialities: a vector for rethinking legal frameworks that protect animals; a site of inversion of scientific framings of XT and rethinking of human–non-human differences and similarities; a step into the unknown that may open the door to unpredictable scientific developments; and a possible mechanism for the harm and exploitation of animals. We argue that considering these diverse potentialities of XT reveals its ethics as emergent. To engage with the emergent ethics of XT alongside its evolving technology is to remain attentive to how it is entangled with broader socio-ethical landscapes, in order to be better prepared for what the future holds.