Why are pigs used in many medical and non medical products?

[wildcardmy]

I wanted to create this thread in the Biology sub-forum earlier, only to realize that there isn't any... I also wanted to put it in the medical science subforum but since it involves religious issues to a certain degree, I guess this is the best place to put it in.

After a couple of weeks in advanced biology class I learned that pigs are used as the base to 'grow' certain medical products. One such example is inculine. there must be good scientific reasons for the use of pigs to create inculine, but I'm not much aware of them. Anyone?

Other than that, pigs' intestine are also used in the manufacturing of sausages although the meat itself may not be pork. Why couldnt they use the cows' intestine should they are making beef sausages? Anyone?

This raises the question of religious irritation. As many have already known, Muslims are forbidden from touching, let alone eating pork. Inculine made by the pigs are also regarded as unusable by muslims. Thus the question is, are the scientific and economic values in using pigs and its meat higher than the need to respect the fellow muslims? Alternatively, arent they any other animals which can be used to produce those products, thus avoiding the irritation placed upon the muslims?

[zadojla]

Regarding insulin, there are three basic sources:

rDNA Human - this is grown by bacteria that have had human genes inserted, this producing human insulin. It is commonly preferred for treatment here in the US.
Pork - it works somewhat differently, and is still used by some people in the US
Beef - this is no longer available in the US, but is still manufactured outside the US.

Before recombinant DNA, the only choices were beef and pork insulin, or a mix. Each kind of insulin works differently, and each diabetic is different. Of human insulin, there are seven different types (with different properties) I can think of off hand, from two different manufacturers, and each one works differently. Most type 1 diabetics without pumps use two different kinds, long-acting and short-acting. This is why a diabetic person really needs to go to an endcrinologist, instead of their family doctor.

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by wildcardmy

I wanted to create this thread in the Biology sub-forum earlier, only to realize that there isn't any... I also wanted to put it in the medical science subforum but since it involves religious issues to a certain degree, I guess this is the best place to put it in.

After a couple of weeks in advanced biology class I learned that pigs are used as the base to 'grow' certain medical products. One such example is inculine. there must be good scientific reasons for the use of pigs to create inculine, but I'm not much aware of them. Anyone?

Other than that, pigs' intestine are also used in the manufacturing of sausages although the meat itself may not be pork. Why couldnt they use the cows' intestine should they are making beef sausages? Anyone?

This raises the question of religious irritation. As many have already known, Muslims are forbidden from touching, let alone eating pork. Inculine made by the pigs are also regarded as unusable by muslims. Thus the question is, are the scientific and economic values in using pigs and its meat higher than the need to respect the fellow muslims? Alternatively, arent they any other animals which can be used to produce those products, thus avoiding the irritation placed upon the muslims?

Prior to current technologies, much of the commercial insulin in the U.S. had high levels of impurities. Patients on insulin therapy often developed antibodies to the impurities in the product and to the animal insulin itself. Pork insulin was much less antigenic than beef insulin. Technology is now helping to produce more biosynthetic human insulin. At some point in t he future we will probably not need animal insulin any more. Then again, maybe diabetes will be cured. I read a news release where doctors in the UK have cured a 61-year-old man who had been suffering from the most extreme form of the disease for more than thirty years by injecting pancreatic cells into his liver. The man had been on insulin for the whole period.

I suspect one of the key reasons for using pork membrane for sausage instead of beef is the diameter. Beef membrane would yield a sausage sized like a stick of bologna. For the religiously sensitive there is synthetic membrane.

[wildcardmy]

Originally Posted by zadojla

Regarding insulin, there are three basic sources:

rDNA Human - this is grown by bacteria that have had human genes inserted, this producing human insulin. It is commonly preferred for treatment here in the US.
Pork - it works somewhat differently, and is still used by some people in the US
Beef - this is no longer available in the US, but is still manufactured outside the US.

I have only just started the advanced biology class so please refrain from using too much technical terms when explaining things to me. There are a few things that I do not understand.

So you are saing that human insulin can be produced by the 3 sources mentioned -rDNA,pork,Beef- are not of the same properties and that insulin from all the sources are needed for all types of diabetis?

Is it possible to only have inculine produced by rDNA and Beef and yet provide sufficient insulin for all diabetis types?

Originally Posted by zadojla

Before recombinant DNA, the only choices were beef and pork insulin, or a mix. Each kind of insulin works differently, and each diabetic is different. Of human insulin, there are seven different types (with different properties) I can think of off hand, from two different manufacturers, and each one works differently. Most type 1 diabetics without pumps use two different kinds, long-acting and short-acting. This is why a diabetic person really needs to go to an endcrinologist, instead of their family doctor.

Can you explain the bolded area? There are 7 types of human insulin, which are pmanufactured by 2 different parts/organs of the human body? I dont quite get that one

[zadojla]

Originally Posted by wildcardmy

So you are saing that human insulin can be produced by the 3 sources mentioned -rDNA,pork,Beef- are not of the same properties and that insulin from all the sources are needed for all types of diabetis?

Is it possible to only have inculine produced by rDNA and Beef and yet provide sufficient insulin for all diabetis types?

Can you explain the bolded area? There are 7 types of human insulin, which are manufactured by 2 different parts/organs of the human body? I dont quite get that one

No, what I am saying is that there are three different sources for manufactured insulin:
Human insulin, that is insulin that is chemically identical to that produced by humans, but produced by bacteria that have been genetically modified.
Pork insulin, from pig pancreases
Beef insulin, from cattle pancreases
Any of these can be used by diabetic people, but the properties of each are slightly different.

Insulin from any source can be modified by the addition of other substances to have different properties, mostly affecting the period of time over which the insulin acts after injection. Most diabetics use both a long-acting insulin and a short-acting insulin, unless they use an insulin pump.

There are only two major drug companies manufacturing insulin, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Insulin that is nominally the same type from each company is actually not identical in effect on a diabetic.

But your real question seems to be what people who can't use pork insulin do. This would apply to Muslims and orthodox Jews. There is no reason why they must use pork insulin. Beef insulin is available, but the best choice is usually the manufactured human insulin, because of the reduced chance of adverse reactions.

BTW, I have never taken a biology course of any sort, either in high school or college.

[KickAssClown]

Simply due to similar/matching biochemistry and vital organs.

[Fishteacher73]

I would gather that it is just easier/cheaper to raise pigs than cows. Perhaps in terms of medical products perhaps swine products are more biologically acceptable to humans than bovine products. I know that there have been pig heart vallves used in transplants. If I recall there have been other xeno-transplants involving a baboon liver and a little girl.