A trio of thought-provoking articles this past week

In the U.K., Human-pig hybrid embryos given go ahead:

"A licence to create human-pig embryos to study heart disease has been issued by the fertility watchdog.

This marks the third animal-human hybrid embryo licence to be issued by Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the first since the Commons voted in favour of this controversial research last month.

An HFEA spokesman said it had approved an application from the Clinical Sciences Research Institute, University of Warwick, for the creation of hybrid embryos..." Full article accessible here.

From Uganda's leading website: Genital Mutilation - Women Grapple With a Deadly Tradition - "In the scorching afternoon sunshine, Philis Yapchemusto stands in the compound of a tiny building that houses the headquarters of Reproductive, Educative and Community Health (REACH) programme. The community-based programme was established in Kapchorwa to improve reproductive health conditions and stop female genital mutilation." Full article can be read here.

From Scientific American: What is self-awareness?
"Can a lobster ever truly have any emotions? What about a beetle? Or a sophisticated computer? The only way to resolve these questions conclusively would be to engage in serious scientific inquiry—but even before studying the scientific literature, many people have pretty clear intuitions about what the answers are going to be. A person might just look at a computer and feel certain that it couldn’t possibly be feeling pleasure, pain or anything at all. That’s why we don’t mind throwing a broken computer in the trash." Rest of the story here.

Medical Breakthrough or Monstrosity?

“Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras—a hybrid creature that's part human, part animal.”
Mary Ann Mott, National Geographic News


According to Reuters UK ( “Factbox: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill” ), controversial medical research innovations are being debated in Parliament’s House of Commons this week. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill raises several interesting bioethical issues, one of which would allow the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos to be used for medical research.

Interspecies embryos would be created by taking a cell from a patient and inserting it into an enucleated animal ovum. An electric shock would fuse the two cells together allowing the formation of an embryo. Because the genetic material from the animal has been removed, the resulting embryo would be 99.9% human and an excellent model for medical research. The proposed legislation mandates that these embryos must be destroyed before 15 days, and they must not be implanted into the uterus of a woman or another animal.

The advantage of creating mixed-species embryos is that they can be a powerful research tool for developing stem cell models without the use of human eggs. Embryonic stem cells would be taken from the new hybrid embryo and injected into specialized human tissues, giving researchers insight on understanding the progression and possible treatment of medical conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, cystic fibrosis, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and other inheritable diseases. Stem cells could also be used to repair human tissue by allowing new tissue that is genetically matched to the individual to be cultivated for damaged body parts without the risk of rejection.

Scientists and researchers are excited about the medical possibilities that may unfold, and supporters of this bill are convinced that these techniques are “an inherently moral endeavor” that could eventually save millions of lives. There is, however, a great deal of public anxiety about the ethics of experimenting across species boundaries. Many critics find it unnatural and morally wrong to combine human and animal genetics. They also question the benefits of hybridization, claiming that there is no evidence that this will help cure diseases and that other research methods are more effective. They find it both misleading to the public and an abomination to nature. “There are other ways to advance medicine besides going into the strange, brave new world of chimeric animals.”

Even scientists are divided on this issue. Although there may seem to be medical advances to be gained from human-animal hybridization, we really need to make sure that these benefits outweigh the possible risks. In the words of William Cheshire, associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville, Florida branch,


“We must be cautious not to violate the integrity of humanity or of animal life over which we have a stewardship responsibility. Research projects that create human-animal chimeras risk disturbing fragile ecosystems, endanger health, and affront species integrity.”



[Photo courtesy of goatboyfilms.com/.]

UK will allow human-animal hybrids for stem cell research

On January 17, the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) granted two universities 1-year licenses to pursue the development of human-animal embryos for research purposes. This is a reversal of prior policy, which banned such transgenic experimentation.

The ultimate aim of this work will be to develop personalized stem cells that can be used to cure disease. The researchers will clone individuals with serious illnesses by inserting their DNA into enucleated cow and rabbit eggs, resulting in hybrid embryos from which stem cells can be extracted. The hybrid embryos are to be destroyed no later than 14 days after they are created. It is hoped that using patients' own DNA in this process will reduce (or, better still, eliminate) the risk of transplant rejection (graft vs. host disease) when the stem cells, or organs grown from them, are implanted in the patient's body.

The UK's approach sidesteps at least two issues that have been problematic for scientists in the US: (1) the destruction of human embryos question (because they're hybrids, not solely human), and (2) the problem of gathering a sufficient number of donated human ova for research purposes. It's at least a little bit interesting to note that public opinion in the UK generally favors this approach, even as the rejection of genetically modified "Frankenfoods" continues to be reported in the news there.

However, US opinion has been quite strongly against such transgenic experimentation, generally because of concerns of developing chimeras with human (or human-like) consciousness. Additionally, the requirement that the chimera embryos be destroyed within 14 days of creation is probably pretty close to unenforceable-which gives rise to the kinds of nightmare scenarios Margaret Atwood contemplated in Oryx & Crake ("baby orchards" for organ transplants).*

So: Does the HFEA's approach create more problems than it solves? Talk amongst yourselves.

News here: The Guardian, Financial Times


*And yes, that's another WBP Book Club selection! Go here for more info.

We're Not Monkeying Around (or are we?)

[Cross-posted from blog.bioethics.net]:

After what it calls "a series of detailed deliberative sessions", Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority gave the go ahead Wednesday for the creation of embryos that would contain both human and animal cells. Such research is banned in Canada and President Bush has called for it to be forbidden in the US*. Here's more from HEFA's statement:

Having looked at all the evidence the Authority has decided that there is no fundamental reason to prevent cytoplasmic hybrid research. However, public opinion is very finely divided with people generally opposed to this research unless it is tightly regulated and it is likely to lead to scientific or medical advancements.

This is not a total green light for cytoplasmic hybrid research, but recognition that this area of research can, with caution and careful scrutiny, be permitted. Individual research teams should be able to undertake research projects involving the creation of cytoplasmic hybrid embryos if they can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of an HFEA licence committee, that their planned research project is both necessary and desirable. They must also meet the overall standards required by the HFEA for any embryo research.

There are already two applications for human animal chimeric embryo research before the regulatory panel. The applications include proposals to inject human DNA into the embryos of cows or rabbits, ultimately in an effort to produce stem cells.

The May 2007 AJOB Neuroscience featured a target article about the proposed human neuron mouse. This summer Hank Greely, one of the target article's authors, and Francoise Baylis, who authored a peer commentary, both appeared on a bioethics.net podcast to talk about the ethical implications of human-animal chimeras.

-Greg Dahlmann

*Or, at least, we think he did. In the State of the Union Address, Mr. Bush used the term "hybrid" which isn't the same thing as a chimera. US Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) has proposed legislation to ban human animal chimeras (the bill actually uses the word) and apparently the President supports this legislation.