In the last few weeks I have been horrified to hear some truly chilling stories of scientists creating human-animal hybrids, or Chimera, in the laboratory. The Chinese reported in 2003 that they had created a human-rabbit hybrid. Similar work is being done by the Americans. They are created by injecting animal cells or DNA into human embryos or human cells into animal eggs. Thankfully Canada has banned such experimentation. It is Great Britain that has been in the news recently. They have pending legislation that would allow the creation of these embryos but the scientists would not be able to allow them to develop past 14 days. At that time they would have to destroyed. Surprisingly, Catholic Bishops in the UK have stated that while these embryos should not be created in the first place, if they are then they should be allowed to implant them in a woman's womb if she wishes and if she has contributed the egg. The resulting baby would then be raised as a human being. The problem here is that we have no idea what the result of this tampering would be. Would the child have animal physical features and/or tendencies? Would natural instincts override parental and societal boundaries? God (or nature if you wish) never intended the mixing of the species. Occasionally it happens, as in the case of horses and donkeys and a mule is the result. In order to preserve the integrity of the species, these hybrids are almost invariably sterile and cannot reproduce. With genetic tinkering, would this still be the case or would the process used override this important safeguard? It is a slippery slope we are on and if we continue to play God with the very essence of human life we can expect to see catastrophic results.
I have included some links to other sites on this topic if you wish to get more information:
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