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June 26, 2007Chimera embryos have right to life, say bishopsHuman-animal hybrid embryos conceived in the laboratory - so-called “chimeras” - should be regarded as human and their mothers should be allowed to give birth to them, the Roman Catholic Church said yesterday. (Telegraph) One Response to “Chimera embryos have right to life, say bishops”Leave a Reply
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June 26th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
One key issue in how to identify such a chimera appears to be how the brain of the chimera would develop. Would the human cells of the mixed embryo mainly contribute to brain development, or would the other species’ cells introduced into the embryo contribute significantly to neural development? What a mess. This brings to mind John Merrick, the elephant man, and the medical horrors, societal rejection, etc., that man had to endure throughout life. Why should we as a society endorse the creation of an entire class of “elephant men”, or worse, by mixing species?