The
National Institutes of Health proposed a policy to allow scientists to receive
federal money for creating embryos that are part human and part animal, known
as chimeras.
These
experiments to make animal embryos by using human stem cells might raise great
ethical concerns. Nevertheless, the scientists believe that they can prevent an
occurrence of any issues and that these embryos can provide useful tools for
medical research.
The Animal-Human
Embryos Can Help in Preventing and Treating Diseases
The
scientists hope that the animal-human embryos will enable them to make animal
models of human illnesses. By doing so, they would find new ways to prevent and
treat diseases.
Also,
the researchers aim to create pigs, sheep, and cows with human hearts, livers,
pancreases, kidneys, and other organs which can be used for transplants.
Moreover,
the NIH is considering making experiments that would lead to a creation of
animals with human sperm and eggs, which might be useful for studying
infertility and human development. However, in this case, the animals would
have to be prevented from breeding.
Pablo
Ross, a veterinarian and reproductive biologist at the University of
California, Davis, claims that the NIH’s consideration to funding this study is
very welcoming news because this type of research will enable the scientists to
answer some extremely important questions.
Nevertheless,
the critics denounce this experiment, especially because the scientists can
create animals with partly human brains, which are likely to possess human
consciousness or human thinking abilities, as well as because the embryos can
develop into animals with human sperm, eggs, and breed, which will produce
human fetuses in the animals, or hybrid creatures.
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