Chimeras (Humanized Animals)

Consider for a moment the hundreds of thousands of people in dire need of an organ transplant, or the multitudes of people who can’t recognize their families due to neural diseases.
And spare a thought for those whose bodies are being annihilated by cancer and who will surely spend their last moments on this planet in excruciating pain.
Now consider if it were your son who needed a liver transplant. Your Girlfriend dying of cancer or your mother whose mind leaves her a confused helpless mess.
What length would you go to, to save these people?
Would you accept a liver or kidney for transplant even if it had been grown inside a sheep?
Would you reject a cure for cancer because it was unethically developed….?
Would you?
I am guessing not!

Somewhere in Nevada a sheep was born whose heart and liver were largely human and in Minnisota there is a pig with human blood running in his veins and in California a lab mouse peers through his cage bars with a brain that is as much as 1% human.

These are not the creations of some sick horror movie mad scientist but rather a very complex Biological experiment that is helping scientist observe for the first time, how human cells react, not only with one another, but also with those of other animals.
They have been called Chimeras after a Greek mythological creature one that has parts of different creatures in one body.
By fusing Human cells with those of animals at different times in fetal development scientist have been able to create a pig with both human and pig blood cells and in a miraculous turn of events were able to observe how these cells merged to create a hybrid cells.
Realizing that pig viruses may be transmitted to humans, a sheep embryo was developed with a liver and heart that is as much as 80% human.
In theory these organs can be transplanted into the human body where our own immune system will reject the alien 20% and take root.

Testing of HIV drugs have also been simplified by a mouse that carries a complete human immune system and can be infected by the virus. Now drugs that may turn out to be toxic to humans can be tested on mice.

However while the US seems to have abandoned their plight with the UN to ban cloning completely, their attention has turned to chimeras and are campaigning for a ban on the creation of Chimeras.
However the wording of such a policy will have to be very very carefully thought out as the creation of chimeras is not as uncommon as one would think, as most twins carry a few cells from their sibling and of course mothers carry cells from their infant, not to mention the recipients of organ transplants or those whose defective heart valves have been replaced with those from pigs or cow’s.

Naturally the question of “How human is to human?” has been raised
And at what point have we raised an animals moral standing too much?
At what point should chimeras be allowed the same rights as a human being?

Scientist also say that there is a risk that the human cells in chimeras could spread to the testis and ovary’s. Producing human sperm and Human eggs..
If two such chimeras were to mate it would result in a human fetus whose parents are effectively a pair of mice or sheep or pigs.


The practice has been called unethical and scientists have been accused of ignoring the value of a human life.
Some quote the bible (like you didn’t see that coming).
However I question how questing to relieve mankind’s suffering can be called unethical.
I ask how the worlds leaders can declare war on aids and a fight against cancer but block science from exploring all avenues.
It is clear that the resources we have at our disposal are not heelding the needed results…
And wouldn’t it be grand if one person didn’t have to die to replace another’s heart.

I am not supporting a ban on this practice but rather a very strict oversight to ensure that the procedure is not in the interest of pure curiosity but rather in the interest of scientifically researching the benefits that such creations may hold for man kind.

Again I ask your opinion knowing that we may not all agree.