China will be grafting its head for the first time in history

Chinese doctors are ambitious to transplant one person's body to another for the first time in history, despite the international community's opposition to moral standards.

Chinese doctors are ambitious to transplant one person's body to another for the first time in history, despite the international community's opposition to moral standards.

Six years ago, Wang Huanming was paralyzed from the neck down after playing with a friend. now he is hoping to be able to walk normally if a head transplant is performed.

Mr. Wang 62, a retired gas factory employee, is one of many Chinese who volunteered to participate in the first joint trial in Harbin, China.

The idea of ​​a head transplant was warned by many world scientists when China expressed its determination to do so. Transplants are thought to be impossible at the present time, both morally and medically. Accordingly, the process of nerve transplantation in the spinal cord is extremely difficult and the probability of dying patients is very large.

Picture 1 of China will be grafting its head for the first time in history

Head implants are currently the biggest ambition of Chinese doctors.

Orthopedic surgeon Ren XiaoPing from Harbin Medical University, who was involved in hand grafting for the first case in the US in 1999, said he did not falter. In a recent interview, Mr. Ren said that he was building a team of staff and doctors and would make head grafting when ready.

Dr. Ren's plan is to separate the ends of the two living bodies, then connect the body of the donor to the receiver's head. A metal plate will be used to fix the neck. The spine will be soaked in a special solution so that they can "survive" and then will be fully stitched.

Even so, many leading experts condemn Dr. Ren's ambitious plan."For most people in the industry, grafting is too early and risky," said Dr. James Bernat, neurologist at the Dartmouth College of Geisel Medical Hospital in the US. Dr. Huang Jiefu, former deputy minister of Chinese health, said that when the spine is cut off, nerve connection is not medically impossible.

Some researchers fear this experiment is "going too far and too fast" . Dr. Cong Yali from Beijing University said Dr. Ren's plan only made the international community's view of the Chinese more misleading.

Last year, the Chinese government invested US $ 216 billion in scientific research and development, 7 times more than in 2005, according to data from the China National Bureau of Statistics.

Last year, researchers at Zhongshan University, southern Guangzhou, genetically modified human embryos, resulting in rare anemia. This experiment has far surpassed the usual moral standards. The international community thinks that if genetic changes are made on a fetus in the mother's body, these changes will be genetic. In addition, experts fear that China will carry out genetic modification to improve looks or intellect.

Picture 2 of China will be grafting its head for the first time in history

China often has many experiments despite the objection of the international medical community.

Despite concerns, a group of other scientists in Guangzhou changed genes in April to prevent the fetus from fighting HIV. Many foreign scientists have confirmed that this action is "inhumane " and "immoral".

Dr. Ren is not an exception to want to transplant a human body. Previously, Dr. Sergio Canavero from Italy experimented with this ambitious process. However, Dr. Sergio has not intended to fulfill his ambition.

Dr. Ren, a born in Harbin, lived in the United States for 16 years before repatriating in 2012. He participated in a hand transplant performed in 1999. Dr. Ren used to pair heads for mice but they only survived a day later. He said he experimented on the body but did not provide detailed results.

The doctors and supporters of Ren said that the first graft experiment will bring a living prospect to the seriously ill patients affecting the whole body function as Mr. Wang's case.

Mr. Vuong's family hopes that the surgery will be successful to help them not have to pay too much hospital fees as today. Mr. Wang's daughter, Wang Zhi, 34, used to use her hand to squeeze her breath to supply her father with oxygen. Later when supported, the family was granted an automatic breathing machine but the hospital fee for many years eroded Mr. Vuong's economy.

Ms. Wang said: "An unbelievable surgery could save us."

Update 15 December 2018
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