Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/news/?id=118
From January 2007 onwards scientists and the biotechnology industry were insisting that because of a shortage of human ova as a source of human embryonic stem cells, Britain should legalise the production of animal-human hybrids. Despite speeches such as the almost prophetic one of Lord Tombs saying that the proposals were 'unproven, unnecessary and unethical', Parliament eventually approved this late in 2008.
A 2007 CMF File explained the scientific background and objected that this proposal fundamentally breached human dignity. Later, noting that the HFEA had already granted licences to produce hybrids before Parliament had concluded its deliberations, CMF argued that the research was not just unethical but also unnecessary. The Prime Minister's strong personal support for the creation of hybrids was noted in a later article but as Parliament proceeded, the successful development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS – adult cells reprogrammed back to have the potential of embryonic stem cells but without their impracticalities) was effectively rendering the whole embryonic stem cell debate obsolete.
And now we learn on 2 February that animal-human hybrids won't work anyway.
This press release has a link to the original paper in the journal Cloning and Stem Cells which makes damning reading for those previously obsessed with the hubris of hybrids.
The US researchers said the effort to produce workable embryos from mouse, cow and rabbit eggs had failed. Dr Robert Lanza and colleagues from Advanced Cell Technology had inserted human DNA into the animal egg cells but it did not activate and control the genes needed for stem cells. The hybrids looked microscopically normal but were genetically flawed.
The research team claimed that if others get the same results, the heated debate over the ethics of animal-human hybrids will have been a waste of time. Sir Ian Wilmut, the British cloning pioneer involved in the 1996 creation of Dolly the sheep, had already abandoned embryonic stem cell research because of iPS, but further described these findings as 'very disappointing'.
Perhaps the last word belongs to leading US stem cell scientist James Sherley who in a hard-hitting blog reviews the history of opposition to hybrids. He notes: 'Gentle UK scientists, of ethical bearing, with expert knowledge, and nothing to gain, courageously risked their station in their profession to object that making animal-human hybrid embryos was not only unethical, but also unsound scientifically. Not only did they adamantly predict that it would not work and, therefore, waste the people's resources, but they also knew that it could not work.' Commenting on these latest findings he laments: 'For those trained in the science, this is not news, but instead a completed fate that was known from the beginning'.
Steven Fouch (CMF Head of Communications) 020 7234 9668
Alistair Thompson on 07970 162 225
Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) was founded in 1949 and is an interdenominational organisation with over 5,000 doctors, 900medical and nursing students and 300 nurses and midwives as members in all branches of medicine, nursing and midwifery. A registered charity, it is linked to over 100 similar bodies in other countries throughout the world.
CMF exists to unite Christian healthcare professionals to pursue the highest ethical standards in Christian and professional life and to increase faith in Christ and acceptance of his ethical teaching.
