The word “chimera” is that usually only related to mythology. However, it can also be used to describe a type of research that combines organisms composed of genetic material (usually cellular) from two distinct species (Eberl & Ballard, 2009). This term can be applied to research using genetic material from humans and animals. With this kind of human-animal hybrid research, scientists are able to perform experiments using things like human embryonic stem cells without injury to people or animals. There is great debate, though, that this kind of research will lead to scientists adding to the development of new species of animals capable of more human characteristics, such as moral thinking, and that these scientists are “playing God.” With careful regulation, scientists should be allowed to continue to perform experiments on human-animal chimeras to be able to advance in knowledge about HIV research, Parkinson’s disease, and other diseases. Background Definitions Chimera. The word originally comes from that of Greek mythology and describes an animal that is a combination of a lion, a serpent, and a goat (Sherringham, 2008). Sherringham (2008) describes the present-day definition of how it relates to science and research as organisms “comprised of at least two genetically distinct populations of cells originating from independent embryos,” but the combined genetics are not a result of sexual reproduction (Sherringham, 2008, p. 767). The word chimera can also be used to refer “to a biological entity composed of genetic material from members of two distinct species” (Eberl & Ballard, 2009, p. 471). Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). These “stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vit... ... middle of paper ... ...10. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061900 National Academy of Sciences. (2014). Who we are. Retrieved from http://www.nas.edu/about/whoweare/index.html Obama, B. (2009). Removing barriers to responsible scientific research involving human stem cells. Federal Register, 74(48). Sherringham, T. (2008). Mice, men, and monsters: Opposition to chimera research and the scope of federal regulation. California Law Review, 96(3), 765-800. Streiffer, R. (2010). Chimeras, moral status, and public policy: Implications of the abortion debate for public policy on human/nonhuman chimera research. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 38(2), 238-250. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2010.00484.x U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health. (2010). What are embryonic stem cells? Stem Cell Information. Retrieved from http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics3.aspx
Without animal research, cures for such diseases as typhoid, diphtheria, and polio might never have existed. Without animal research, the development of antibiotics and insulin would have been delayed. Without animal research, many human beings would now be dead. However, because of animal testing, 200,000 dogs, 50,000 cats, 60,000 primates, 1.5 million hamsters, and uncounted millions of rats and mice are experimented upon and die each year, as living fodder for the great human scientific machine. Some would say that animal research is an integral part of progress; unfortunately, this is often true. On the whole, animal testing is a necessary evil that should be reduced and eliminated whenever possible.
The fight against diseases, especially these serious diseases causing untold suffering for many people, must be continuous and heroic. Fetal tissue use has a promising hope for people in their old age to be and live more sustainable. Even though fetal research does not hold the certainty but only a possibility of cures for such diseases, such possibilities should be realized if one has the resources and there is no moral impediment to doing so. But that remains the question. Is there a moral impediment to such research? ...
To choose for their children, the world’s wealthy class will soon have options such as tall, pretty, athletic, intelligent, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Occasionally referred to as similar to “the eugenics of Hitler’s Third Reich” (“Designer Babies” n.p.), the new genetics technology is causing differences in people’s opinions, despite altering DNA before implantation is “just around the corner.” (Thadani n.p.). A recent advance in genetically altering embryos coined “designer babies” produces controversy about the morality of this process.
Chimera Reemerge.” Pacific News Service. 6 December 1995. Newspaper online. Available at http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/columns/heresies/950612-animal.html. Internet. Accessed 10 December 2003.
" An Overview of Stem Cell Research | The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity."
Stem cells are pluripotent cells of the body which are “undifferentiated.” This means that stem cells can ultimately give rise to any type of body tissue. Thus stem cells have the potential to cure a vast number of diseases and physical ailments including Parkinson’s, diabetes, spinal cord injury, and heart disease. Consequently, stem cell research and the development of associated medical applications are of great interest to the scientific and medical community. The area of stem cell research involving human embryonic stem cells is of particular interest in that embryonic stem cells are derived from week-old blastocysts developed from in vitro fertilized eggs. As opposed to adult stem cells, which must undergo a complicated process of de-differen...
McGee, Glenn, (2001). Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning. ActionBioscience.org. Retrieved October 3, 2004, from: http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/mcgee.html
Kuhse, H. and Singer, P. Bioethics: An Anthology. Malden, MA. Blackwell Publishing. 2006. Part II: Assisted Reproduction. Pence, G. The McCaughey Septuplets: God’s Will or Human Choice?, pages 87-88. Purdy, L. Surrogate Mothering: Exploitation or Empowerment?, pages 91-93. Hanscombe, G. The Right to Lesbian Parenthood, pages 104-107.
Caplan, A., & Arp, R. (2014). The deliberately induced abortion of a human pregnancy is not justifiable. Contemporary debates in bioethics (pp. 122). Oxford, West Sussex: Wiley.
Foht, Brendan P. "Three-Parent Embryos Illustrate Ethical Problems with Technologies." Medical Ethics, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,
Using animals as testing models for scientific research has become one of the most serious issues in the world. According to Procon.org, almost 26 million animals are used for scientific testing every year in the United States, and more than 10,000 animals died in those testing experiments. Many scientists believe that animal testing is necessary because it can help humans develop more scientific research. However, the truth is that many animal testing experiments usually fail when they are used in humans. Therefore, animal testing should be banned because human’s DNA is not similar to animals, there are better ways, and animals have rights.
Pray, Leslie A., Ph.D. “Embryo Screening and the Ethics of Human Genetic Engineering.” Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 2008. Web. The Web.
“Every year, scientists use millions of animals- mostly mice and rats- in experiments. The practice provokes passionate debates over the morality and efficacy of such research- and how to make it more humane.” – John F. Lauerman
Ormandy, E., Julie, D., & Gilly, G. (2011, July). Genetic engineering of animals: Ethical issues, including welfare concerns. Retrieved from The Canadian Veterinary Journal: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3078015/#!po=76.5625
While there is both negative and positive sides to hybridization, I will be focusing on the negative effects of hybridization and the different kinds of hybridization seen throughout the world, among different