Ethical concerns have been raised after it was revealed that scientists had made monkey embryos in a laboratory using human cells.
In the experiment, the scientists injected human stem cells, which are the building blocks for all human life, into the monkey embryos, which had been harvested from macaque monkeys.
The embryos were then allowed to develop with the human stem cells for 20 days before they were destroyed.
Prof. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of the Salk Institute based in the United States was the scientist leading the experiment. He has previously led a team that created a pig-human hybrid.
It is hoped by the scientists that this could create scientific processes in which replacement organs for living humans could be created. It may also be able to let us find out the scientific processes behind aging and genetic disorders.
Prof. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte told reporters:
"These chimeric approaches could be really very useful for advancing biomedical research not just at the very earliest stage of life, but also the latest stage of life. Ultimately, we conduct these studies to understand and improve human health."
Some however, assert that humans should not be tinkering with the building blocks of life or crossing-species. Opponents also fear that such science could lead the way towards designer humans or even living animals that are partly human.
Dr. Anna Smajdor, a lecturer in biomedical ethics at the University of East Anglia's Norwich Medical School, told theBBC:
"The scientists behind this research state that these chimeric embryos offer new opportunities, because 'we are unable to conduct certain types of experiments in humans'. But whether these embryos are human or not is open to question."
While Prof. Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, stated:
"These embryos were destroyed at 20 days of development but it is only a matter of time before human-nonhuman chimeras are successfully developed, perhaps as a source of organs for humans. That is one of the long-term goals of this research."
He added that such experiments:
"Opens Pandora's box to human-nonhuman chimeras".
[h/t: BBC]
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