In this Discussion
- doctor5cap September 2007
- giggleguy September 2007
- spy9black September 2007
- Surfer Rosa December 2007
- tune1shade September 2007
Cybrid stem cells
'Human-animal' embryo ruling due
Regulators are due to make a decision whether to allow human-animal embryos to be created and used for research.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is expected to give the plan the go-ahead in principle - but each case will still be judged individually.
An HFEA consultation showed the public were "at ease" with the idea when told it could pave the way for therapies for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
But a leading opponent said many people would be "horrified" by such a move.
"No good reasons for banning this research have been identified"
Dr Evan Harris, Lib Dem MP
Scientists want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs in a bid to extract stem cells.
The cells form the basic building blocks of the body and have the potential to become any tissue, making them essential for research.
At the moment, scientists have to rely on human eggs left over from fertility treatment, but they are in short supply and are not always good quality.
Two teams from Kings College London and Newcastle University have already applied to the HFEA to use hybrid embryos.
Dr Lyle Armstrong University, of Newcastle University, said: "It does seem a little abhorrent at first analysis, but you have to understand we are using very, very little information from the cow in order to do this reprogramming idea.
"It's not our intention to create any bizarre cow-human hybrid, we want to use those cells to understand how to make human stem cells better."
[From BBC website]
So what do people think? The idea is that human DNA is injected into empty animal egg cells, then stimulated to divide and create stem cells which can then become specialized as heart, brain, and (this is what excites me) pancreas cells, in order to cure all sorts of problems such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.
Obviously I'm hugely in favor of the research - I have no ethical objections, and it's a step closer to, potentially, a cure for my own diabetes. I'm interested in other people's opinions though.
Regulators are due to make a decision whether to allow human-animal embryos to be created and used for research.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is expected to give the plan the go-ahead in principle - but each case will still be judged individually.
An HFEA consultation showed the public were "at ease" with the idea when told it could pave the way for therapies for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
But a leading opponent said many people would be "horrified" by such a move.
"No good reasons for banning this research have been identified"
Dr Evan Harris, Lib Dem MP
Scientists want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs in a bid to extract stem cells.
The cells form the basic building blocks of the body and have the potential to become any tissue, making them essential for research.
At the moment, scientists have to rely on human eggs left over from fertility treatment, but they are in short supply and are not always good quality.
Two teams from Kings College London and Newcastle University have already applied to the HFEA to use hybrid embryos.
Dr Lyle Armstrong University, of Newcastle University, said: "It does seem a little abhorrent at first analysis, but you have to understand we are using very, very little information from the cow in order to do this reprogramming idea.
"It's not our intention to create any bizarre cow-human hybrid, we want to use those cells to understand how to make human stem cells better."
[From BBC website]
So what do people think? The idea is that human DNA is injected into empty animal egg cells, then stimulated to divide and create stem cells which can then become specialized as heart, brain, and (this is what excites me) pancreas cells, in order to cure all sorts of problems such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.
Obviously I'm hugely in favor of the research - I have no ethical objections, and it's a step closer to, potentially, a cure for my own diabetes. I'm interested in other people's opinions though.
Comments
this is a HHHUUUGEEE step in curing some of the most terrifing human deseases, since with this method you can actually create brain cells that in nature, are only produced once, and you only get those for the rest of you life...
The only problem about this new method is that the human being is greevy and we won't just sit back and relax after neutralising some deseases, we'll want to create super-human-beings! Woth huge hearts that can stand hours exercising and with a constant stock of brain cells ready to be replaced...
Everything that involves curing some illness is also quite dangerous to science because there's always the risk of creating another ones...
My opinion is confused and undefined, I know...Still, as long as lives are saved or made better, it's allways worth it!
An HFEA consultation showed the public were "at ease" with the idea when told it could pave the way for therapies for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
But a leading opponent said many people would be "horrified" by such a move.
"No good reasons for banning this research have been identified"
Dr Evan Harris, Lib Dem MP
im personaly in the camp of this is a good idea
as the people who wish to carry it out said its useing such litle informatino from the animal its taken from that theres hardly any worry
what would have happend if no one had ever said, "wow i think Hippocrates and his ideas on the Four humours could be wrong!" we would still be stuck in primative medicine times.
without forward thinking and progress we will never cure the things they we are all hyped up about curing, not a day goes past without news in papers of how "X-product is making you more likely to get X-disease/condishon". then these same papers are the ones rejecting the ideas of moving forward with new work on such things..
what really would be the ethical objection though? i guess people are afraid of the creation of a chimera or something.
I support reasearch like this aswell. Seeing people like my aunt living with kidney failure, and knowing that stem cell research and stem cell therapy could help her, there is no way that i could be against it. Since trail stem cell therapy hasnt been successful this could help the researchers learn ways to increase its sucess rate.
I would like one chimera please.
Rosa