Some research scientists are experimenting with growing human organs inside animals by adding human stem cells to pig and sheep embryos, reports Discovery News.
This is in order to meet the high demand for livers, hearts and other organs. Currently there are about 123,000 Americans waiting to receive an organ donation.
Although this could be life saving for many, the creation of human-animal hybrids (also known as chimeras) is highly controversial as it blurs the lines between species.
Lab rats. Image Credit: Steve Jurvetson (Flickr)
In September 2015, the National Institutes of Health said it would not support studies involving chimeras, until further research into scientific and social implications has been done.
Currently, little is known about what can happen when human cells are grown inside animal embryos.
English speaking lawyers in Bangkok Chaninat and Leeds have decades of experience both in Thailand and internationally.
As Antonio Regalado writes in Technology Review, the agency are worried that the animals “cognitive state” could be altered if they are implanted with human brain cells.
Read the full story here.
Editors comment:
This story brings to mind a story we ran last year about the development of sex robots, and the advances in artificial intelligence that have the potential to create startling realistic dolls. Campaigners called the robots “very disturbing indeed.”
Perhaps despite developments in technology in all spheres, there is part of the human condition that clings to the simplicity of nature and rejects too much change.
However, maybe this will seem a very naive view in a hundred years time when chimeras and robots will walk among us?!
Let us know what you think in the comments.
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Science needs to calm the f*** down! This is messed up, just like the sex robots is messed up. Human beings need to stay human beings and stop playing around with unnatural concepts. Humankind is headed for a fall if it continues down this path, seriously.