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Another Try at Artificial Blood
kpogoda writes "There are some Swedish scientists that have successfully produced a powdered form of blood that can be used to treat patients. Although it is not ready for transfusions yet it is a major breakthrough in a much needed arena."
As far as I can tell, they're taking just the hemoglobin from outdated blood, and then wrapping it up in a deliverable form. So it's made from blood, but they've stripped out anything that could cause rejection, along with viruses and other nasty things.
The article says that they could do it from any mammalian blood, but use human blood for "ethical reasons". PETA members, perhaps? It makes sense that this procedure could use any hemoglobin source, as all mammals are pretty much identical from that standpoint.
Personally, I'd prefer that they take the bazillions of gallons of cows' blood that are produced anyway and use it to save lives. It's not currently wasted, as it's used for a variety of agricultural and industrial uses, but it could save lives more directly by making blood substitutes cheaper.
I guess some people would REALLY prefer not to get animal blood, no matter how vigorously processed, just from the squick factor.
This is a very important development for Jehovah's Witnesses. The article mentions that it is possible to use animal blood rather than human blood for blood transfusions. It is against Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs to accept blood transfusions because it is considered to be consuming the flesh of another person. So, since accepting animal blood would not be against the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, it may clear up the controversy surrounding JW's refusal of necessary blood transfusions?