HUMAN-cow embryos have been created in a world first at Newcastle University in England, hailed by the scientific community, but labelled “monstrous” by opponents.
A team has grown hybrid embryos after injecting human DNA into eggs taken from cows’ ovaries, which had most of their genetic material removed.
The embryos survived for three days and are intended to provide a limitless supply of stem cells to develop therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and spinal cord injuries, overcoming a worldwide shortfall in human embryos.
Dr Teija Peura, director of human embryonic stem cell laboratories at the Australian Stem Cell Centre, said somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) had been done between animal species, but the “99 per cent human” embryos could boost research.
Sounds like something from the news on the Island of Dr. Moreau.
C.S.Lewis was frighteningly prescient in “Abolition of Man.” He said that when the “conditioners” are no longer subject to the Natural law the only thing that will guide them is their desires and then Nature’s conquest of Man will be complete.
so disturbing. it is becoming apparent that we will stop at nothing now to ensure our own existence; we are that afraid of death.
I truly thought this was another April fools gag. How I wish it were . . . May the Lord have mercy on us!
OK, this is profoundly creepy. Could someone lend these guys a DVD of “Island of Lost Souls”–cause this stuff never ends well…
Okay, let me see if I’m understanding this right:
They take a cow ovum (egg-cell) and take out the genetic material from the cell nucleus. Then they take human DNA, which could come from any cell of the body that has a full nucleus (hence the [i]somatic[/b] in SCNT, and insert it into the the cow ovum.
I’m not making any judgments at the moment about the morality of it, but would this be an accurate (though rough) description of what is taking place?[/i]
oops, the italics were supposed to end after “somatic”
The rest of the comment isn’t supposed to be emphasized like that. Sorry.
KM, yes. Think Dolly the sheep but with human cell DNA in cow egg.
The drive to move toward the creation of such chimeras is significant here in the UK, with the popular debate being shaped by the utilitarian argument that this MIGHT be a way of bringing an end to various of the dreadful and debilitating diseases. The Labour Government is behind such research because it keeps Britain in a leading position in biogenetic research, but when we wrote to our Conservative MP expressing misgivings it was clear that he was happy to back this component of legislation now in Parliament.
I am convinced that the big issue facing us in this century is what human identity really is, and this is one of the present major battlefields. It may sound far fetched, but I suspect those of us who are theists and hold a high view of humanity are going to find ourselves with our backs against the wall in so many ways unless we are prepared to enter this debate — and it might already be too late.
Horrifying.
While I appreciate how bizarre and unpleasant all this sounds, we in the Christian churches, together with Judaism and Islam, have to engage in the debate so that we can play a part in shaping it and the policies that derive from it — and whose most extreme consequences do not bear thinking about.
At the moment the few who have shown any interested have done well at throwing up holy hands and being horrified — this is just where those who engage in and support this research want us to be. They can straight away turn around and say, “See, they are Luddites and obscurantists who don’t deserve to be listened to.” There are some who are trying to make solid contributions to the debate, although they are often blown off as irrelevant. In addition, it is vital to demonstrate politically that our revulsion at this kind of thing has a huge basis of support in the wider population, and way beyond the religious community.
I just don’t see folks willing to do that. While it seems relatively easy to mobilize huge numbers who have strong misgivings about abortion, such folks calling themselves pro-life, this line of attack on what it means to be human does not seem possible to ruffle many feathers, although actually it is absolutely foundational.
Apologist Mark Shea has a great line about this sort of thing being divided into two phases. Right now we’re in the “what could it hurt?” phase. Next comes “how were we supposed to know?”…
It was just this kind of scientific hubris that became the trigger for the great “Simplification” following the “Flame Deluge” in Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowtiz. And that displayed by the scientifics of the N.I.C.E. in Lewis’ That Hideous Strength. Here’s praying that a Ransom is provided for us as in the latter that we avoid the fate of the former.
Sounds like Mad Cow is still rampant in the U.K.!
RichardKew is absolutely right , and it is satisfying to know that I am not alone is saying that we mus face this issue – what does it mnean to be human? – carefully and thoroughly. The church is presently g e tting its hand muddy because it WILL play with naughty children who make mud pies, but such issues as the present present the church with enormous theological problems. The science is going to go away; indeed, this issue is going to g et more and more bizarre very quickly as science increases its successes with chimeras. And this problem is but one of many like it.
People, science is creating a darkness visible and we are rolling dice with TEC? Who will lead us out of this Egypt? And don’t tell me that God will take care of it. He may part the waters, but it takes a Moses to lead. Larry
I am glad to see someone else who shares my deepening concerns and misgivings. Thank you, Larry.
While I appreciate humor, even the black humor that can help lighten the gravity of an issue like this, this is something that requires great seriousness on our part. C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley writing decades ago foresaw the problems that we faced, but perhaps because they wrapped up their warnings in science fiction, these warnings are not being listened to.
Our culture is in the process of abandoning the notion that there is a God, and therefore that we are human beings are made in the image of that God. This means that in the mind of many who are eager to push such research forward we are like any other creature, are at a particular point on the evolutionary continuum: and the exciting thing now is that we can control how this being known as homo sapiens sapiens can develop and be changed. Whatever sort of scenario you paint if this premise is accepted has some pretty awful implications — and that is without thinking of the law of unintended consequences.