Are there any ethics guidelines on chimeric research?
There are no U.S. federal laws governing chimeric research. But in April 2005, the National Academy of Sciences released suggested ethics guidelines for stem cells, which included a section on chimeras. The NAS said no embryonic stem cells should be transplanted into a human blastocyst- a ball of cells that results from the fertilization of a human egg. The NAS also said Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committees should be created and approve any human embryonic stem cells put into an animal. The guidelines also said no animal into which human embryonic stem cells have been placed should be allowed to breed, and no human embryonic stem cells should be put into nonhuman primate blastocysts. The NAS panel said human embryonic stem cells should only be introduced into nonhuman mammals when no other experiment can provide the information needed, and “experiments in which there is a possibility that human cells could contribute in a ‘major organized way’ to the brain of an animal req
