Church Decries Plan for Human-Animal Hybrid

[Amelia]

Church Decries Plan for Human-Animal Hybrid

Bishop Sgreccia Says British Decision Offends Dignity

ZENIT

The World Seen From Rome

2007-05-18

VATICAN CITY, MAY 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican official lamented a British government decision to drop its opposition to forming hybrid animal-human embryos for stem cell research.

Bishop Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said Thursday's decision to reject a proposed ban on the process is offensive to human dignity.

"The creation of a hybrid animal-human embryo has been banned by everyone in the biotechnology field, until now -- and not just by religious groups," Bishop Sgreccia said. "This is because human dignity is compromised and offended and monstrosities will be created from these inseminations.

"It is true that these embryos are suppressed and the cells taken out, but the creation of an animal-human being represents a natural border that has been violated, the most grave of violations."

In an interview with Vatican Radio, he called for a complete moral condemnation of the practice, "in the name of reason and in the name of justice and science, which must be maintained for the well being of the person and respect for human nature."

Uncalculated consequences

Bishop Sgreccia said he hopes that the international scientific community continues to hold the line, to defend "the conservation and respect of the species."

"The human individual has not been respected because embryos are destroyed and sacrificed in many ways, as in the case of these artificial inseminations," the 78-year-old bishop said. "But the line between the species had always been respected. Now, this barrier too has been broken and the consequences have not been calculated.

"The fact is that there was no reason to do this. If they are looking for stem cells in order to cure Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, there is no need to create a hybrid animal-human embryo, because there are adult stem cells, and stem cells in umbilical cords and those in the adult male to be able to battle these frontiers in faith."

"The scientist who is only worried about advancing his research does not take into consideration the anthropological and philosophical factors, like respect for nature and the natural order.

"There is a thirst for knowledge that must be maintained inside certain limits, a thirst to experiment that can upset the moral sense of the one carrying out the experiments, if he is not controlled by a sense of balance and human reason."

[Amelia]

Britain gives nod for animal-human hybrid embryos

By TIM CASTLE

May 17, 2007—

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday cleared the way for scientists to conduct experiments using hybrid animal-human embryos after the government bowed to protests from researchers who said a proposed ban could hurt their work.

Scientists want to use the hybrid embryos to find cures for illnesses such as Parkinson's, stroke and Alzheimer's.

The Department of Health said it would accept a recommendation from parliament's Science and Technology Committee that inter-species embryos could be created for research.

In December, the government had proposed a ban on creating the hybrid embryos, due to what it called "considerable public unease", with the door left open for later regulations that could allow such research under licence.

Britain is one of the leading states for stem cell research, attracting scientists from around the world with a permissive environment that allows embryo studies within strict guidelines, but the proposed ban was seen as putting that at risk.

The change in the government's position comes after sustained pressure from scientists and politicians who argued the hybrid embryos would help overcome a shortage of human eggs for research.

Researchers currently rely on human eggs left over from fertility treatments, but these are in short supply.

The hybrid embryos, which would be destroyed within 14 days, would be more than 99 percent human but would contain a small amount of animal DNA.

Scientists say that any imposition of a ban would see research in other countries, such as China and Canada, overtake Britain.

Scientists in China, the United States and Canada have already carried out similar work, the same technique used to create Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal.

But President George W. Bush has vetoed an expansion of federal funding for stem-cell research, saying U.S. taxpayers who object to such work should not have to pay for it.

The British government's draft legislation as written still bars the creation of inter-species embryos, with the government leaving it to a committee of MPs due to scrutinise the bill to find the best way of allowing the research.