Kinda disturbing...
Potentially kinda cool though, but I think medical usage is the big bad here. I don't think we have a right to hybridize things to harvest organs. Any new creature should have its own animal rights.
Of course, I'd be happy with the technology to combine people with animal aspects of their choosing, not having it depend on what people screwed around with before birth. But I doubt that'll ever happen. Oh well.
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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0125_050125_chimeras.html
Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy
Maryann Mott
National Geographic News
January 25, 2005
Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras-a hybrid creature that's part human, part animal.
Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University in 2003 successfully fused human cells with rabbit eggs. The embryos were reportedly the first human-animal chimeras successfully created. They were allowed to develop for several days in a laboratory dish before the scientists destroyed the embryos to harvest their stem cells.
In Minnesota last year researchers at the Mayo Clinic created pigs with human blood flowing through their bodies.
And at Stanford University in California an experiment might be done later this year to create mice with human brains.
Scientists feel that, the more humanlike the animal, the better research model it makes for testing drugs or possibly growing "spare parts," such as livers, to transplant into humans.
Watching how human cells mature and interact in a living creature may also lead to the discoveries of new medical treatments.
But creating human-animal chimeras-named after a monster in Greek mythology that had a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail-has raised troubling questions: What new subhuman combination should be produced and for what purpose? At what point would it be considered human? And what rights, if any, should it have?
There are currently no U.S. federal laws that address these issues.
Ethical Guidelines
...
Human Born to Mice Parents?
...
Mice With Human Brains
...
Of course, I'd be happy with the technology to combine people with animal aspects of their choosing, not having it depend on what people screwed around with before birth. But I doubt that'll ever happen. Oh well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0125_050125_chimeras.html
Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy
Maryann Mott
National Geographic News
January 25, 2005
Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras-a hybrid creature that's part human, part animal.
Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University in 2003 successfully fused human cells with rabbit eggs. The embryos were reportedly the first human-animal chimeras successfully created. They were allowed to develop for several days in a laboratory dish before the scientists destroyed the embryos to harvest their stem cells.
In Minnesota last year researchers at the Mayo Clinic created pigs with human blood flowing through their bodies.
And at Stanford University in California an experiment might be done later this year to create mice with human brains.
Scientists feel that, the more humanlike the animal, the better research model it makes for testing drugs or possibly growing "spare parts," such as livers, to transplant into humans.
Watching how human cells mature and interact in a living creature may also lead to the discoveries of new medical treatments.
But creating human-animal chimeras-named after a monster in Greek mythology that had a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail-has raised troubling questions: What new subhuman combination should be produced and for what purpose? At what point would it be considered human? And what rights, if any, should it have?
There are currently no U.S. federal laws that address these issues.
Ethical Guidelines
...
Human Born to Mice Parents?
...
Mice With Human Brains
...