Why should we be Concerned about Chimeras?
On August 4, 2016 the NIH announced that it plans to lift its moratorium on funding research that involves injecting human embryonic stem cells into animal embryos thus creating part-human and part-animal organisms known as chimeras. This means that, for the first time, the Federal government will begin spending taxpayer dollars on the creation and manipulation of new beings whose very existence blurs the line between humans and non-human animals.
This research is ethically problematic for several reasons:
1) It relies on the killing of humans at the embryonic stage to harvest their stem cells;
2) It involves the production of animals that could have partly or substantially human brains;
3) It involves the production of animals that could have human sperm or eggs (with a stipulation that precautions are taken so such animals are not allowed to breed);
4) It allows the introduction of human embryonic stem cells into animal embryos early in their development such that it may be very difficult to know the extent to which human cells contribute to the final organism.
Consequently, researchers won’t know what their moral obligations may be toward that being. Tragically, the NIH has apparently given little, if any, consideration to these or any other ethical concerns with regard to this research.
Comments can be submitted online – click here.
They also can be submitted by mail. You can download, print and mail the .pdf of the letter prepared for your use – click here.
Please print the letter, sign and date it, and mail immediately to:
Office of Science Policy
The National Institutes of Health
6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 750
Bethesda, MD 20892
• Share this alert by Facebook, Twitter or email.
• REMEMBER COMMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MIDNIGHT (EDT) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6. IF SUBMITTING BY MAIL, PLEASE DO SO IMMEDIATELY.
Suggested Message:
I object strongly to the NIH’s proposal to rescind its moratorium on funding of research involving human-animal chimeras. I do not want my tax dollars being used for grossly unethical research involving the creation and manipulation of part-human, part-animal beings whose very existence blurs the line between humans and non-human animals. This proposed research raises all the ethical problems of human embryonic stem cell research in general and serious additional problems related to the creation of human-animal beings with partly or substantially human brains and/or human gametes.
I also object strongly to the NIH’s apparent lack of consideration for the ethical issues implicated by this research. Indeed, the NIH pledged to “undertake a deliberative process to evaluate the state of the science in this area, the ethical issues that should be considered, and the relevant animal welfare concerns associated with these types of studies” when the moratorium was put in place in 2015. Yet, to date there is no evidence of any discussion of the ethical issues involved in creating partly human animals.
I strongly urge you to maintain the current moratorium on funding research involving the creation and manipulation of human-animal chimeras.
chimeras letter