When British scientists first proposed to create human-bovine chimeras, there were some warnings:
Calum MacKellar, from the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, said the research undermined the distinction between animals and humans.The barrier has now been breached. Scientists at Newcastle have announced the creation of man-cow chimeras that survived for days:
He said: "In the history of humankind, animals and human species have been separated.
"In this kind of procedure, you are mixing at a very intimate level animal eggs and human chromosomes, and you may begin to undermine the whole distinction between humans and animals.
"If that happens, it might also undermine human dignity and human rights."
HUMAN-cow embryos have been created in a world first at Newcastle University in England, hailed by the scientific community, but labelled "monstrous" by opponents.
A team has grown hybrid embryos after injecting human DNA into eggs taken from cows' ovaries, which had most of their genetic material removed.
The embryos survived for three days and are intended to provide a limitless supply of stem cells to develop therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and spinal cord injuries, overcoming a worldwide shortfall in human embryos.
Not everyone is enthusiastic, however:
The Catholic Church in Britain branded the creations as "monstrous" - a view supported by Caroline Chisholm Centre for Health Ethics director Fr Kevin McGovern.The British Isles are quickly becoming the Island of Dr. Moreau:
"An almost-human embryo is being created and then it's being destroyed," he said.
"I cannot see that that respects human life or the dignity of human life.
"Human beings - or even almost human embryos - are not just things that you can use in a laboratory experiment.
"What is being created is life.
"No one knows exactly what would grow from these embryos.
"If this is approved in the UK, there will be renewed pressure to permit it here, and we will travel further down the slippery slope of allowing just about anything."
2 comments:
those who look at life as if it were something void of all transcendent and eternal Spirit, live in a material world of their own making - one which becomes void of all that is transcendent and eternal.
when do what thou wilt is the whole of the law, then evil reigns.
britain is itself fast becoming an island of lost souls, disarmed of the ability to fight either the postmodern atheistic left or the jihadist.
pity.
Yes, it is a pity.
Check this out:
1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said,
"My Spirit will not contend with [a] man forever, for he is mortal [b] ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth ...
That passage, from Genesis, speaks of two problems which are presenting themselves anew as a result of the bio-engineering revolution;
1) indefinate lifespan
2) Nephilim (sons of God), who are some sort of monstrous form of human.
Put these things together with
1) we can now destroy ourselves, every human being on the earth,
2) we will soon be able to perform almost total surveillance (brain connected to internet via wireless) on human beings, thus destroying the zone of privacy (prayer) required to be a human,
and I would say, we have come up against every limit God has set for us.
In my opinion, this does not bode well for us.
On the other hand, when we are up against limits, there is a psychological effect, and this effect will force us to choose between God and desolation.
We live in interesting times.
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