I am reading a couple of articles from the journal “Cell” in which research involving the blending of embryonic cells is reported. The research is based upon and similar to a good bit of research that has already been done involving other animals like mice, pigs, and sheep. Scientists have created organisms with cells from two different animals. In the human/monkey experiments the researchers are implanting human embryonic “pluripotent” stem cells into a monkey embryo, either replacing or adding to the mass of cells in the embryo that form the developing creature. So far, according to the journal article, all of this is being done “ex vivo” or outside the organism. In other words, the embryonic chimera is not being implanted into a womb. The scientists say that what they are doing is ethical and that no one has any intention of trying to gestate one of these things. The fact that the human pluripotent stem cells were implanted into a monkey blastocyst (embryo) is in itself immoral. Moreover, some bishops have indicated that human-animal hybrids should be treated as human. This means, of course, that one cannot simply destroy or experiment upon these individuals. This process of making chimera, far from being ethical, is a very troubling development. There are no realistic goals here in spite of what the scientists claim. Their claim is that they can develop organs for transplant this way. I suppose the thought would be to allow the embryo, then fetus, to grow in a monkey, abort the fetus and, then use its organs for human transplantation.
Front Line Moral 