In England a draft bill (Human Tissue and Embryos Bill) has been proposed that will allow for the legal creation of human/animal mixed embryos which have been termed "Frankenstein Embryos" or human-animal chimeras.
Initially the government's Ministry of Health had come out against this type of legislation fearing the reaction of religious groups, but when asked why the change of heart in this matter, Health Minister Caroline Flint stated that the arguments put forth by the scientific community and the MPs gave her food for thought and thus she was persuaded.
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Some quotes:
Here Sir David King, the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Brittish Government, said, I believe that the approach to the creation of embryos containing human and animal material is the right one.
Dr Stephen Minger, King's College Stem Cell Biology Laboratory Director said: This research is important because these stem cell lines could help us to understand what goes wrong in catastrophic neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
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Some features of the legislation:
-It will make for easier accessibility for lesbians and singles to pursue IVF (before, a clinic had to have proof that a father would be in the child's life).
-It will allow for the mixture of human and animal cells in the embryo for research purposes.
-It will prohibit couples from deciding the gender of their babies.
-It will allow for people in same sex civil partnerships to have the same rights as parents in traditional marriages.
-It will introduce regulation of internet sperm services.
-It will tighten laws on genetic screenings of embryos for disease (to keep insurance companies from denying coverage based on genetic tendencies).
-It will allow a donor conceived child to be able to find out if they have a donor conceived sibling.
-Is there a danger in mixing human and animal cells in an embroynic stage?
You can read more here.
Some questions:
-Do you see this legislation as being helpful or hurtful to humanity? Why?
-What do you see as being beneficial in this legislation?
-Responsibility wise, what does this say about our technological advances?
-Do you see this legislation, if passed, being the beginning of a decline down a slippery slope?
-Do you think that, if passed, this legislation could make its way to the US?
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