Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy

LUNZ · 01-27-2005, 11:26 AM

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

The National Academy of Sciences, which advises the U.S. government, has been studying the issue. In March it plans to present voluntary ethical guidelines for researchers.

A chimera is a mixture of two or more species in one body. Not all are considered troubling, though.

For example, faulty human heart valves are routinely replaced with ones taken from cows and pigs. The surgery—which makes the recipient a human-animal chimera—is widely accepted. And for years scientists have added human genes to bacteria and farm animals.

What's caused the uproar is the mixing of human stem cells with embryonic animals to create new species.

Biotechnology activist Jeremy Rifkin is opposed to crossing species boundaries, because he believes animals have the right to exist without being tampered with or crossed with another species.

He concedes that these studies would lead to some medical breakthroughs. Still, they should not be done.

"There are other ways to advance medicine and human health besides going out into the strange, brave new world of chimeric animals," Rifkin said, adding that sophisticated computer models can substitute for experimentation on live animals.

"One doesn't have to be religious or into animal rights to think this doesn't make sense," he continued. "It's the scientists who want to do this. They've now gone over the edge into the pathological domain."

David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University, believes the real worry is whether or not chimeras will be put to uses that are problematic, risky, or dangerous.

Human Born to Mice Parents?

For example, an experiment that would raise concerns, he said, is genetically engineering mice to produce human sperm and eggs, then doing in vitro fertilization to produce a child whose parents are a pair of mice.

"Most people would find that problematic," Magnus said, "but those uses are bizarre and not, to the best of my knowledge, anything that anybody is remotely contemplating. Most uses of chimeras are actually much more relevant to practical concerns."

Last year Canada passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which bans chimeras. Specifically, it prohibits transferring a nonhuman cell into a human embryo and putting human cells into a nonhuman embryo.

Cynthia Cohen is a member of Canada's Stem Cell Oversight Committee, which oversees research protocols to ensure they are in accordance with the new guidelines.

She believes a ban should also be put into place in the U.S.

Creating chimeras, she said, by mixing human and animal gametes (sperms and eggs) or transferring reproductive cells, diminishes human dignity.

"It would deny that there is something distinctive and valuable about human beings that ought to be honored and protected," said Cohen, who is also the senior research fellow at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics in Washington, D.C.

But, she noted, the wording on such a ban needs to be developed carefully. It shouldn't outlaw ethical and legitimate experiments—such as transferring a limited number of adult human stem cells into animal embryos in order to learn how they proliferate and grow during the prenatal period.

Irv Weissman, director of Stanford University's Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine in California, is against a ban in the United States.

"Anybody who puts their own moral guidance in the way of this biomedical science, where they want to impose their will—not just be part of an argument—if that leads to a ban or moratorium. … they are stopping research that would save human lives," he said.

Mice With Human Brains

Weissman has already created mice with brains that are about one percent human.

Later this year he may conduct another experiment where the mice have 100 percent human brains. This would be done, he said, by injecting human neurons into the brains of embryonic mice.

Before being born, the mice would be killed and dissected to see if the architecture of a human brain had formed. If it did, he'd look for traces of human cognitive behavior.

Weissman said he's not a mad scientist trying to create a human in an animal body. He hopes the experiment leads to a better understanding of how the brain works, which would be useful in treating diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

The test has not yet begun. Weissman is waiting to read the National Academy's report, due out in March.

William Cheshire, associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville, Florida, branch, feels that combining human and animal neurons is problematic.

"This is unexplored biologic territory," he said. "Whatever moral threshold of human neural development we might choose to set as the limit for such an experiment, there would be a considerable risk of exceeding that limit before it could be recognized."

Cheshire supports research that combines human and animal cells to study cellular function. As an undergraduate he participated in research that fused human and mouse cells.

But where he draws the ethical line is on research that would destroy a human embryo to obtain cells, or research that would create an organism that is partly human and partly animal.

"We must be cautious not to violate the integrity of humanity or of animal life over which we have a stewardship responsibility," said Cheshire, a member of Christian Medical and Dental Associations. "Research projects that create human-animal chimeras risk disturbing fragile ecosystems, endanger health, and affront species integrity."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n..._chimeras.html

LUNZ · 01-27-2005, 11:26 AM

**Angel** · 01-27-2005, 11:30 AM

(

...Lunz back?...where the heck have you been?...Welcome back btw

...)

*back on the topic here*...

Human stem cells with embryonic animals to create new species?? :hitit:

Fly Free · 01-27-2005, 11:35 AM

i find this HIGHLY inappropriate -- mixing human and animal genetics is

period!

Dennis · 01-27-2005, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fly Free

i find this HIGHLY inappropriate -- mixing human and animal genetics is

period!

I disagree. We've been mixing genetic materials for centuries. How do you think we got mules? (re: Mix of Horse and Donkey)

While I do admit that I'm having a hard time saying, "Yeah! Go for it! Run wild with the experiments!" I do believe that this avenue of science needs to be explored. Humans haven't been strictly homo sapiens genetically -- well, of course, unless you only believe in the biblical interpretation that the Earth is 4,000 years old and man was distinctly created solely by God himself...

I do want the scientists to be careful. I can think of many horrid experiments that can come out of this, and in the end, it's of our own doing, not some kind of "freak of nature" that came out of someone's womb.

**Banjo** · 01-27-2005, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dennis

I do want the scientists to be careful. I can think of many horrid experiments that can come out of this, and in the end, it's of our own doing, not some kind of "freak of nature" that came out of someone's womb.

Like in that movie, Watcher. A crappy horror flick from the early 90s, but you get the idea of how dangerous these experiments can turn out to be.

Vance · 01-27-2005, 02:20 PM

Bad move IMHO.

I would share my opinion of this issue but I probably will be bashed for it so I rather not. Animal-Human Hybrid is truly bad move.

Dennis · 01-27-2005, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magatsu

Bad move IMHO.

I would share my opinion of this issue but I probably will be bashed for it so I rather not. Animal-Human Hybrid is truly bad move.

Share your opinion, man. I did. I didn't get bashed for it. I am all for it, but I still want the scientists and researchers to be careful.

**Reba** · 01-28-2005, 11:37 AM

Shades of The Island of Dr. Moreau!
If you don't remember the 1896 story by H.G. Wells, here is an excerpt about the Beast Folk:

http://www.bartleby.com/1001/15.html#8

There was also a movie, Island of Lost Souls (1933) based on the story,
and some other later movie versions with different titles.
http://www.metamovie.de/film/island.html

01-28-2005, 12:00 PM

Quote:

"Research projects that create human-animal chimeras risk disturbing fragile ecosystems, endanger health, and affront species integrity."

Right....seeking to create human-animal hybrid is a extremely bad idea. It would seriously corrupt the genetic build and even shorten the life span needlessly... and all for what?

tekkmortal · 01-28-2005, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toonces

Right....seeking to create human-animal hybrid is a extremely bad idea. It would seriously corrupt the genetic build and even shorten the life span needlessly... and all for what?

Pig's heart can be used to trasnplant someone's heart if it is genetically engineered to work for humans. That is why scientists are using human genes in pigs to improve the chance for the patients with pig heart to survive.

Vance · 01-28-2005, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tekkmortal

Pig's heart can be used to trasnplant someone's heart if it is genetically engineered to work for humans. That is why scientists are using human genes in pigs to improve the chance for the patients with pig heart to survive.

if you say so but it will not save their lives. I mean, it is just give them few years or bit more to live but that's it. They are to be required to use immune-suppression drugs to live if they have the transported hearts. Simple cold can kill them or cause them to be hospitalized. It is virtually impossible to live without immune-suppression drugs. Even with human genes, their bodies will still rejected these foreign organs.

Playing God with genes will be always backfired. It is not good idea to fool around with mother nature or our genes. To err is human after all.

Dennis, okay will add about this whenever I find this article that I want to use as example/fact.

**Reba** · 01-28-2005, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magatsu

if you say so but it will not save their lives. I mean, it is just give them few years or bit more to live but that's it. They are to be required to use immune-suppression drugs to live if they have the transported hearts. Simple cold can kill them or cause them to be hospitalized. It is virtually impossible to live without immune-suppression drugs. Even with human genes, their bodies will still rejected these foreign organs.

Playing God with genes will be always backfired. It is not good idea to fool around with mother nature or our genes. To err is human after all.

I hope you won't need a new heart after I make my statement.

Magatsu, I agree with you (please, don't have a heart attack).

01-28-2005, 01:16 PM

Amen to what Magatsu said.

01-27-2005, 11:26 AM	#1 (permalink)
LUNZ Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 874	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 The National Academy of Sciences, which advises the U.S. government, has been studying the issue. In March it plans to present voluntary ethical guidelines for researchers. A chimera is a mixture of two or more species in one body. Not all are considered troubling, though. For example, faulty human heart valves are routinely replaced with ones taken from cows and pigs. The surgery—which makes the recipient a human-animal chimera—is widely accepted. And for years scientists have added human genes to bacteria and farm animals. What's caused the uproar is the mixing of human stem cells with embryonic animals to create new species. Biotechnology activist Jeremy Rifkin is opposed to crossing species boundaries, because he believes animals have the right to exist without being tampered with or crossed with another species. He concedes that these studies would lead to some medical breakthroughs. Still, they should not be done. "There are other ways to advance medicine and human health besides going out into the strange, brave new world of chimeric animals," Rifkin said, adding that sophisticated computer models can substitute for experimentation on live animals. "One doesn't have to be religious or into animal rights to think this doesn't make sense," he continued. "It's the scientists who want to do this. They've now gone over the edge into the pathological domain." David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University, believes the real worry is whether or not chimeras will be put to uses that are problematic, risky, or dangerous. Human Born to Mice Parents? For example, an experiment that would raise concerns, he said, is genetically engineering mice to produce human sperm and eggs, then doing in vitro fertilization to produce a child whose parents are a pair of mice. "Most people would find that problematic," Magnus said, "but those uses are bizarre and not, to the best of my knowledge, anything that anybody is remotely contemplating. Most uses of chimeras are actually much more relevant to practical concerns." Last year Canada passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which bans chimeras. Specifically, it prohibits transferring a nonhuman cell into a human embryo and putting human cells into a nonhuman embryo. Cynthia Cohen is a member of Canada's Stem Cell Oversight Committee, which oversees research protocols to ensure they are in accordance with the new guidelines. She believes a ban should also be put into place in the U.S. Creating chimeras, she said, by mixing human and animal gametes (sperms and eggs) or transferring reproductive cells, diminishes human dignity. "It would deny that there is something distinctive and valuable about human beings that ought to be honored and protected," said Cohen, who is also the senior research fellow at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics in Washington, D.C. But, she noted, the wording on such a ban needs to be developed carefully. It shouldn't outlaw ethical and legitimate experiments—such as transferring a limited number of adult human stem cells into animal embryos in order to learn how they proliferate and grow during the prenatal period. Irv Weissman, director of Stanford University's Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine in California, is against a ban in the United States. "Anybody who puts their own moral guidance in the way of this biomedical science, where they want to impose their will—not just be part of an argument—if that leads to a ban or moratorium. … they are stopping research that would save human lives," he said. Mice With Human Brains Weissman has already created mice with brains that are about one percent human. Later this year he may conduct another experiment where the mice have 100 percent human brains. This would be done, he said, by injecting human neurons into the brains of embryonic mice. Before being born, the mice would be killed and dissected to see if the architecture of a human brain had formed. If it did, he'd look for traces of human cognitive behavior. Weissman said he's not a mad scientist trying to create a human in an animal body. He hopes the experiment leads to a better understanding of how the brain works, which would be useful in treating diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. The test has not yet begun. Weissman is waiting to read the National Academy's report, due out in March. William Cheshire, associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville, Florida, branch, feels that combining human and animal neurons is problematic. "This is unexplored biologic territory," he said. "Whatever moral threshold of human neural development we might choose to set as the limit for such an experiment, there would be a considerable risk of exceeding that limit before it could be recognized." Cheshire supports research that combines human and animal cells to study cellular function. As an undergraduate he participated in research that fused human and mouse cells. But where he draws the ethical line is on research that would destroy a human embryo to obtain cells, or research that would create an organism that is partly human and partly animal. "We must be cautious not to violate the integrity of humanity or of animal life over which we have a stewardship responsibility," said Cheshire, a member of Christian Medical and Dental Associations. "Research projects that create human-animal chimeras risk disturbing fragile ecosystems, endanger health, and affront species integrity." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n..._chimeras.html

01-27-2005, 11:30 AM	#3 (permalink)
Angel ♥"Concrete Angel"♥ Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 19,089	( ...Lunz back?...where the heck have you been?...Welcome back btw ...) back on the topic here... Human stem cells with embryonic animals to create new species?? :hitit: __________________ "When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is brought in our life, OR in the life of another." ~ Helen Keller

01-27-2005, 11:35 AM	#4 (permalink)
Fly Free Registered User Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Roosted in the DC area! Posts: 9,101	i find this HIGHLY inappropriate -- mixing human and animal genetics is period! __________________ Enjoying life!

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01-27-2005, 11:26 AM	#2 (permalink)
LUNZ Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 874

01-27-2005, 02:20 PM	#7 (permalink)
Vance Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 4,280	Bad move IMHO. I would share my opinion of this issue but I probably will be bashed for it so I rather not. Animal-Human Hybrid is truly bad move.

01-28-2005, 01:16 PM	#14 (permalink)
Toonces Guest Posts: n/a	Amen to what Magatsu said.