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Letter: Blood beef

Published 6 February 2008

From Paul Dove

Andy Coghlan asks: “After decades of clinical failures and ethical controversy, could 2008 mark a new dawn for artificial blood?” (5 January, p 11).

Unfortunately, I can’t see how it will mark an end to ethical controversy, since the article goes on to say that the new substitute uses “haemoglobin extracted from cow blood”.

This is obviously a big ethical problem for most vegetarians and many Hindus.

Hampton, Middlesex, UK

Issue no. 2642 published 9 February 2008

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