Is the Creation of Human/Animal Hybrids Legitimate or Ethical Science?
The British Parliament has decided it will permit the creation of a hybrid embryo either by mixing animal sperm with human eggs or human sperm with animal eggs. They have already previously approved a process where other human genetic material is injected into animal eggs to make hybrid cells, with the proviso that the living material must be destroyed at 14 days. They were created by injecting DNA from human skin cells into eggs taken from cows which had almost all their genetic material removed. Moreover, already scientists in different countries have fused rabbit and human cells, made human blood flow through pigs and are planning to grow human brains in mice. British scientists want to use the hybridizing techniques so that they can produce embryonic stem cells in order to discover causes and cures of diseases such as motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. How are we as Christians to evaluate these processes and technologies? Does the manufacture of animal/human hybrid
