Human head transplant now possible, says neuroscientist
Is the stuff of sci-fi and horror movies—transplanting an entire head onto a new body—ready to make the jump from the reel to real life? A neuroscientist says it is.
Dr. Sergio Canavero said technology has progressed to the point that it is now possible to pursue human head transplants, though at a rather high cost.
“The greatest technical hurdle to such endeavor is of course the reconnection of the donor's and recipient's spinal cords. It is my contention that the technology only now exists for such linkage,” he said, according to a report on UK's The Telegraph.
May cure several hopeless diseases
He added the procedure may benefit "several up-to-now-hopeless medical conditions."
Canavero noted the first cephalosomatic linkage was achieved in the monkey in 1970, but the technology did not exist yet for reconnecting the spinal cord.
"Several human diseases without cure might benefit from the procedure," he said.
Time, money, effort
However, he noted the procedure may require a team of up to 100 and take up to 36 hours, The Telegraph reported.
Also, the cost may be prohibitive: £8.5 million (P557.0496 million).
Furthermore, the procedure may require that both heads be removed at the same time, and reconnected within an hour.
Yet, he said such an operation may "provide a few people with a substantial amount of extra life.”
“The only reason I have not gone further is funding," he added.
Horror movie
The procedure is not without its critics.
"This sounds like something from a horror movie," said Dr. Calum Mackellar, from the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics. — VC, GMA News
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