CIT-PART: Report case study Netherlands

In the mid 1990s, xenotransplantation – the process of grafting or transplanting organs or tissues between members of different species – was conceived of as a promising but risky new technology. At the end of that decade several governments in Europe asked their citizens for an opinion about xenotransplantation, while simultaneously acknowledging that it could take years before this technology would be feasible in medical practice. The way in which subsequently decisions were made, and the topic was regulated, varied greatly between countries. This report focuses on the way political judgment and decision-making on xenotransplantation developed in the Netherlands.