Earlier this year doctors at the University of Maryland performed the world’s first complete transplant of a genetically modified pig’s heart into a human being. It’s a major breakthrough in the science of Xenotransplantation; using animal organs for transplant to humans. There is a chronic shortage of organs in the UK and currently there are around 7000 people on the transplant waiting list. But how realistic is it to think that pig organs could be a viable way of reducing these waiting lists? Is it ethical to use other living creatures in this way? And what might advances in medical technology mean for what it means to be human?

Joining Azim Ahmed to discuss the issues are Dr Mansur Ali, Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Cardiff University and a qualified Imam. His current research is into what the Islamic tradition says about organ donation. Dr Trevor Stammers has been a GP for 30 years and also chair of the Christian Medical Fellowship. He is currently the editor of New Bioethics and his particular interest is in Xenotransplantation. Anna-Louise Bates founded the charity, ‘Believe’ in 2015 to promote and support organ donation in Wales.