A new paper details the creation of a human/pig chimera.
The goal of the research program is to generate pigs and cows who would become, essentially, living containers for human organs.
The possibilities have many researchers giddy with excitement. But they also raise serious ethical dilemmas regarding the moral status of these part-human animals.
Steven Hawking argues that transporting the human population to other planets will save us from the problems we’ve caused here on Earth.
Not only is this notion wildly unrealistic as a panacea for our problems; it is dangerous.
Proposed changes by the NIH to its research guidelines regarding human-nonhuman chimeras will result in things like pigs being implanted with human stem cells to create hearts, livers, pancreases and kidneys to then “harvest” and place in human beings.
The pigs will become, essentially, living growth chambers for human organs.
This year’s “Superpod” gathering was attended by scientists, filmmakers, authors, journalists, former trainers, naturalists, orca advocates and lay people.
A new feature, the Scholar-Advocacy Day, featured outstanding talks by students and young people applying their education and professional skills to marine mammal protection.
The Whale Sanctuary Project has been met with enthusiasm and relief by animal advocates, scientists and people everywhere who understand not only that it is impossible for orcas and other marine mammals to thrive in concrete tanks, but that it is fundamentally immoral to use them in this way.
SeaWorld’s announcement that it will stop breeding captive orcas is a step in the right direction.
But sooner or later the company is going to have to bite the bullet and admit that coastal sanctuaries are the only practical and ethical solution to its dilemma.