Posted on 06/26/2007 9:35:39 PM PDT by monomaniac
LONDON, June 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In April, the British government tabled draft legislation that proposes to allow experiments to create human/animal hybrids. Now the Catholic bishops of England and Wales have responded by saying that any embryos created by combining human and animal DNA are human beings with full human rights, including the right to natural birth.
The bishops have made a submission to the parliamentary committee examining the proposed legislation and have said that the genetic mothers of these “chimeras” should be able to raise them.
There are many ways of creating embryos derived from a combination of human and animal elements. Animals with some human DNA are commonly used in medical research already. But the proposal to allow the creation of embryos from human ova in order to obtain stem cells or replacement organs has been a contentious issue even among secular ethicists who have no foundational objection to cloning.
The law, however, specifically prohibits the implantation and gestation of such embryos once they are created, meaning that the human being created must be killed after a certain point of development. The prohibition makes the British bill another of a multitude of “clone-and-kill” bills around the world.
The bishops’ submission says that most of the procedures that would be legal under the bill “should not be licensed under any circumstances.” However, though the creation of hybrid or “chimeric” embryos is itself wrong, the person conceived must be given every possible chance of life. “At the very least, embryos with a preponderance of human genes should be assumed to be embryonic human beings, and should be treated accordingly,” they wrote.
“In particular, it should not be a crime to transfer them, or other human embryos, to the body of the woman providing the ovum, in cases where a human ovum has been used to create them.”
“Such a woman is the genetic mother, or partial mother, of the embryo; should she have a change of heart and wish to carry her child to term, she should not be prevented from doing so.”
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Animal-Human Hybrid Embryos a Reality http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06081001.html
Why Embryonic Stem Cell Research? It's About Human Engineering, Not Ending Disease http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/may/06050902.html
Reminds me of a grade B movie about the End Times, where women started to give birth to human beings without souls.
I always wanted a baby satyr.
““At the very least, embryos with a preponderance of human genes should be assumed to be embryonic human beings, and should be treated accordingly,” they wrote”
Ok...so the new measuring stick will be a “preponderance”. Which will send the scientists back to the lab to form a 49%:51% hybrid.
Then what?
At what point will they say “this” is not human “enough” to care about.
unchartered territory, and I think this is the kind of thing that could really stir up heavy divine anger.
“Hybrid Embryos Must be Given Right to Life Say UK Catholic Bishops”
Don’t hold your breath. They can’t even give a regular embryo the right to life.
IIRC Fr. Chad Ripperger, a traditional Catholic priest, wrote an essay making the case that embryos should be baptized and allowed to die naturally instead of being kept in suspension or adopted. When I first read his article I didn’t agree but in retrospect he was right.
This instance is a no brainer. I don’t know what the Archbishop is thinking, but a human/animal hybrid is a Frankenstein in the making. No way should it be brought to completion.
Archbishop should read bishops.
“The days of Noah..”
The gargoyles on the Notre Dame can live!
Catholic ping?
“No way should it be brought to completion.”
well...it shouldn’t be done to start with...but either should fertilization of human embryos in a petri dish.
It would seem implantation of human embryos - “adoption” is preferable to destruction.
I’m assuming the same applies to these types of embryos.
They are not 100% human, but they are (now) mostly human...at what point do we say their life is not worth protecting?
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