On May 19th the British House of Commons passed the new Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill. It is the first nation to pass legislation of this type but almost certainly will not be the last. This bill marks the crossing of a Rubicon for humanity, the consequences of which no one can even begin to foresee. It opens a ghastly panorama of science fiction nightmares that are not likely to ever be exceeded in the future of the human race.

The bill allows the creation of four types of embryos for new organisms which are all part human and part animal. They are:

Cybrids - These will be creatures with animal cells replaced with a human nucleus. These will allow epigenetic effects to operate on the human nucleus.

Chimeras - These are organisms that are made of a mixture of human and animal cells. On September 7, 2007 in “Human Animal Hybrids Have Been Created” this Blog reported the creation of Sheep Chimera that had a human liver.

Transgenic Embryos - These will be creatures with a small amount of human or animal DNA mixed with the opposite member. This is done in genetic engineering such as taking genes from one plant and placing them in a different plant. Science fiction writers have often envisioned creations such as humans with chloroplasts, who do not need to eat because they turn sunlight into food directly.

True Hybrids - These are the most disturbing of all. In these procedures human eggs or sperm will be fertilized by their animal counter part thereby creating an organism that is 50% human and 50% animal. The Nazis tried this unsuccessfully during WWII when they tried to impregnate Jewish women with ape sperm. They hoped to create the perfect slave laborer. Where the Nazis failed perhaps the others will succeed?

Some temporary solace can be taken from the fact that these monsters from “Frankenstein science” as the Catholic Cardinal of Scotland called these embryos, will not legally be allowed to live past 14 days. However one wonders what will be the fate of a half human that is allowed to live “illegally” past 14 days? What if its creator simply forgets to kill it at 14 days?

The reason given for the creation of these partially human entities is their alleged value as research tools in medicine and basic biology. While there are serious scientific questions about their value for these purposes, all types of marvelous
cures for terrible diseases such as Alzheimer’s are postulated. It is on the basis of such claims as this research may lead to breakthroughs in treating human diseases that the pressure to allow this ghoulish exploration is generated.

Why This Is Important

Even if the serious moral questions surrounding these experiments are ignored, there is still plenty of danger here. Soon pressure will come to allow these organisms to go full term and be born. The Pandora’s Box of problems that will follow probably cannot even be dimly imagined today. It does not require much of a stretch of the imagination to see people crossing cells from their pets, that they love dearly, with cells from their recently dead spouse or lover and creating for example a half dog/half man. It might look like one and have the brain of the other. Imagine the possibilities of what its “owner” might do with that?

Source: “MP’s Back Creation of Human - Animal Embryos”, by Mark Henderson and Francis Elliott, www.timesonline.co.uk. May 19, 2008.

By: Lawrence Vescera Ph.D.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Apologetics, Bible, Bible Study, Biology, Christian Apologetics, Christian Apologetics History, Christian Education, Darwin, Darwinism, Education, Genetics, God, History, Intelligent Design, Medicine, Philosophy, Politics, Science, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.