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I am not sure if adverse comments will succeed in stopping any of the proposed research getting its licence, but we cannot stay quiet in the face of such ghastly experiments.
To say that there is less than 1% of animal DNA present in the hybrid rather begs the question: why allow experimentation on human embryos? Added to which, the human genome is only 2% different from that of the chimpanzee.
At the moment there are only two applications. The first proposal, from the University of Nottingham, involves transfering human DNA into rabbit eggs. That research is based on work carried out already in China. The idea is that by cloning these cells to get stem cell lines, the ethical concerns associated with the creation of embryos in order to obtain stem cells will be eliminated. The scientists totally fail to grasp the idea that creation of human-animal hybrids is morally repugnant to begin with!
The second proposal is from King's College, London. This time the scientists want to combine DNA from humans with genetic neurodegenerative disorders (such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Diseases) with the eggs from cattle and sheep, in order to produce "faulty" stem cells which can be studied in more detail.
The next step for the second proposal, logically, would be to inject these faulty stem cells into whole animals, because petri dishes cannot demonstrate memory loss or muscle wasting. This is not scare-mongering: I was at the Institute of Psychiatry when they were pioneering work on foetal tissue transplantation. I've taken part in this work. It will not stop here.
(Oh, and before you try the "if you had a seriously ill relative you'd take a different view..." line of attack, I would just like to point out that one of my grandmothers had Parkinson's disease, and one of my Grandfathers has Alzheimer's. And I still don't think it's morally acceptable to experiment on human embryos.)
And don't say that the embryos will not be allowed to go beyond 14 days. Scientists always push the envelope...
This is only the start.
You can email the HFEA at: regulationofresearch@hfea.gov.uk
or write to them by snail mail at:
The Regulation Department (Research),
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority,
21 Bloomsbury Street,
London WC1B 3HF
There is an excellent document by the Linacre Centre which summarises why such research is morally repugnant. If you need help on how to phrase your letter to the HFEA, you could use a few points from this summary, but please don't just cut-and-paste.
The closing date is 1st November 2007.
All holy angels and saints of God, pray for the unborn, pray for us.