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New Zealand diabetes sufferers will soon be able to go across the Tasman to receive a pig cell transplant to treat their condition.
The surgery helps diabetic people produce their own insulin and was available in New Zealand before the government suspended all animal transplants.
Australia has decided to proceed with the operation despite a theoretical possibility that a virus could pass from animal to human.
Xeno-transplantation is the use of cells, tissues or organs from one species to treat a condition in another species.
Researchers believe xeno-transplantation holds the key to organ transplant shortages and could be the cure to diseases like diabetes.
Nicky Raffil is one of a tiny handful of people who have had pig cell transplants to treat diabetes in New Zealand before the moratorium.
"I'm thrilled that it's going ahead in such close proximity to New Zealand, I'm sad that it's not in New Zealand," says Raffil.
Dr Kerry Breen of the Australian Ethics Committee says his country sees no need for a moratorium on the treatment because strict guidelines will be centrally policed.
Xeno-transplantation is approved in Britain and the United States.
