Human-animal mixing in medicine is going too far.

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http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060808_chimera.htm"Long before it's in the papers" - Frank of alternativemedicineforum.August 08, 2006Human-animal mixing going too far, report saysAug. 9, 2006Courtesy Scottish Council on Human Bioethicsand World Science staffScientists are going too far in creating mixed human-animal organisms,a Scottish organization is warning.The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, a professional group based inEdinburgh, has published a report on the ethical implications of thepractice in the journal Human Reproduction and Genetic Ethics. Thereport is online at www.schb.org.uk."Crossing the human species barrier is a procedure that has alwaysfascinated humanity," noted the report, made public Tuesday andwritten in light of draft

legislation on human embryology beingprepared by the U.K. Department of Health, to be published this summer.Ancient Greek mythology speaks of monsters such as the Minotaur—a manwith a bull's head—and centaurs, mixtures of humans and horses.But creatures of this nature may not remain confined to mythology forlong, as scientists have begun tentatively creating mixed organisms.An array of experiments have produced animals with some human cells,for instance.Such procedures "mix human and animal biological elements to such anextent that it questions the very concept of being entirely human,"the report said. This raises "grave and complex ethical difficulties."Some ethicists worry that the experiments might force society to makeconfounding decisions on whether, say, a human-chimp mix would havehuman rights. Other concerns are that such a creature could sufferfrom being outcast as a "monster," from having a

chimp as itsbiological father or mother, or from unusual health problems.Some inter-species mixtures are powerful research tools, the report said.This "became clear about a decade ago in a series of dramaticexperiments in which small sections of brains from developing quailswere taken and transplanted into the developing brains of chickens.The resulting chickens exhibited vocal trills and head bobs unique toquails, proving that the transplanted parts of the brain contained theneural circuitry for quail calls. It also offered astonishing proofthat complex behaviours could be transferred across species."Later research has spawned human-animal creations, the report said.These usually die at the embryonic stage, but often survive if themixtures involve only a few cells or genes transferred from onespecies to another.The council cited the following examples:* In 2003, scientists at Cambridge

University, U.K. conductedexperiments involving fusing the nucleus of a human cell into frogeggs. The stated aim was to produce rejuvenated "master cells" thatcould be grown into replacement tissues for treating disease. It wasnot clear whether fertilization took place, but "some kind ofdevelopment was initiated," the report said.* In 2005, U.K. scientists transplanted a human chromosome intomouse embryos. The newly born mice carried copies of the chromosomeand were able to pass it on to their own young.* The company Advanced Cell Technologies was reported, in 1999, tohave created the first human embryo clone by inserting a human cellnucleus into a cow's egg stripped of chromosomes. The result was anembryo that developed and divided for 12 days before being destroyed.* Panayiotis Zavos, the operator of a U.S. fertility laboratory,reported in 2003 that he had created around 200 cow-human hybridembryos

that lived for about two weeks and grew to several hundredcells in size, beyond the stage at which cells showed the first signsof developing into tissues and organs.* In 2003, Hui Zhen Sheng of Shanghai Second Medical University,China, announced that rabbit-human embryos had been created by fusinghuman cells with rabbit eggs stripped of their chromosomes. Theembryos developed to the approximately 100-cell stage that forms afterabout four days of development.The council made 16 recommendations, including that it should beillegal to mix animal and human sperm and eggs, or to create an embryocontaining cells consisting of both human and animal chromosomes."The fertilisation of animal eggs with human sperm should not continueto be legal in the U.K. for research purposes," said Calum MacKellar,the council's director of research."Most people are not aware that these kinds of experiments have beentaking

place in the U.K. and find it deeply offensive. Parliamentshould follow France and Germany and prohibit the creation ofanimal-human hybrid embryos."In a report published in 2004, the President's Council on Bioethics inthe United States also advocated prohibiting the creation ofanimal-human embryos by uniting human and animal eggs and sperm. Adraft law introduced in U.S. Congress by Senator Samuel Brownback(R-Kan.) would outlaw the creation of human-animal mixtures.A 2005 report from the U.K. House of Commons Science and TechnologyCommittee takes a more liberal stance, saying such embryos could belegal for research purposes if they are destroyed within 14 days."While there is revulsion in some quarters that such creations appearto blur the distinction between animals and humans, it could be arguedthat they are less human than, and therefore pose fewer ethicalproblems for research than fully human embryos,"

the committee wrote.* * *Send us a comment on this story, or send it to a friend "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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