Posted on 11/20/2004 9:52:18 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
Scientists Debate Blending Of Human, Animal Forms
By Rick Weiss In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their veins.
In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely human.
In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells firing inside their skulls.
These are not outcasts from "The Island of Dr. Moreau," the 1896 novel by H.G. Wells in which a rogue doctor develops creatures that are part animal and part human. They are real creations of real scientists, stretching the boundaries of stem cell research.
Biologists call these hybrid animals chimeras, after the mythical Greek creature with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail. They are the products of experiments in which human stem cells were added to developing animal fetuses.
Chimeras are allowing scientists to watch, for the first time, how nascent human cells and organs mature and interact -- not in the cold isolation of laboratory dishes but inside the bodies of living creatures. Some are already revealing deep secrets of human biology and pointing the way toward new medical treatments.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
JoJo the dog-faced boy? Kids In the Hall....chicken girl?
Biology ping
.
"Gee, George...come on, George...
...tell me about the Rabbits"
...Lenny to George in John Steinback's 'Of Mice & Men'
.
Is this really for the ping list?
Well, I didn't want to see it get totally swamped by luddites who believe the catastrophism of euro-greenie-weenies :-)
Let 'em have this one. They'll think they're winning.
Hold the phone!!! I have cells of my two sons circulating and reproducing in my body??? I'll have to think about that one for a while. I was ok with losing the teeth and gaining a half of a shoe size for each pregnancy but I didn't know I was getting a permanent genetic mutation.
Moral Absolutes Ping - Anyone think this is good? A grey area? Maybe ok, maybe not?
In my viewpoint this definitely falls into the category of "Thou shalt not". Why?
Playing God, for one. He's the creator, we're the order carriers. Or should be. Naturally, part of our job description is to use our God-given talents (whatever they may be, large or small) in His service, and the service of all His creatures. But said talents and ingenuity can also be used against His natural order.
Torturing animals and humans (no matter how tiny and helpless) and gene manipulation to create "better" creatures is wrong. And like everything that is wrong, there will be terrible repercussions later on.*
Remember this: When violating the natural order to make things better, this is invariably the result.
"The Cure Is Worse Than The Disease".
Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
*This kind of mad scientist venture is completely different than normal hybridization or mixing, for instance, a horse and a donkey to get a mule.
Unfortunately, I think you're right. In fact, you can say that for pretty much all leftist agendas. Regarding the mad scientist plans such as described here, I don't know if they can be labeled "left" or "right".
But they can accurately be called "wrong".
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
This weird science is chilling.
Don't #%$k with Mother Nature !!! Blackbird.
I don't know a great deal about the topic,but have read of experiments in which human genes were added to animal as a means of being able to conduct experiments you couldn't use humans for (example: testing vaccines for smallpox,AIDS,etc.)
I'm not sure this is a "morality" issue.
Genetic science is not limited by any concept of "right" and "wrong". It's merely (a) can it be done and (b) will it make money.
Capitalism or science with no guiding limits of wrong and right will lead to great evil.
"They" are currently looking into and have tried (maybe very actively for all I know, I don't make a huge effort to find out) taking human genes, putting them in animals, so that organs can be grown in the animals for removing and implanting in humans. The science mentioned in the article above also mentioned embyronic stem cells, if I'm not mistaken. That is merely cannibalism by another name. It is morally wrong.
A side point is that people whose vision of what is a human being is nothing but a bag of chemicals and electrical impulses, with no soul, and ending at death, see the end of the physical body as the greatest evil.
It is not the greatest evil. Living an immoral life, at the expense of others, is the greatest evil.
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