Science, ethics and the embryo bill
From Guardian.co.uk
Dr Stephen Minger accuses the Catholic church of a "lack of understanding" and says that, in the research he wishes to do, "99% of the genetic makeup of an animal is removed from an egg before human DNA is inserted". Nevertheless, what is at issue is not only his research but what the bill will allow in the future. The bill does allow a licence to create an embryo "by using human gametes and animal gametes". It lumps together 99.9% human hybrids, 50%-50% hybrids and everything in between as "human admixed embryos". It allows licences to be given for all of them. This is extreme legislation internationally.
It is not only those who care about embryos who should be concerned. The BSE crisis and the threat of avian flu should have taught us to respect other species and to be cautious about the human use of other animals. The 2001 report on biotechnology by the UK Animal Procedures Committee was strongly critical of the creation of human-nonhuman animal hybrids. The use of animal gametes in research on human embryos is yet another extension of the use of animals in research, and one that connects with the genetic modification of animals and with the cloning of animals. It has significant animal welfare implications.
David Jones, Professor of bioethics, St Mary’s University College, Twickenham
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