Transplants must be strictly supervised

On Nov 17, Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero announced that a team led by him and Ren Xiaoping, a professor at Harbin Medical University, had performed the first human head transplant on a corpse, and mentioned the prospect of doing such a surgical operation on a living human being. Is there even a hint of possibility in his claim? Two experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang. Excerpts follow:

Should not call it a 'surgical operation'

It is misleading to call what Canavero and Ren have done a "surgical operation". "Surgical operations" are done on living human beings or animals to help sustain life or improve the patients' physical abilities. "Transplanting" the head of one corpse on the body of another should more properly be called "dissection".