150 Human Animal Hybrids Grown In Uk Labs

[gigantor]

Here we go...

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150 human animal hybrids grown in UK labs:

Embryos have been produced secretively for the past three years

By Daniel Martin and Simon Caldwell

Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories.

The hybrids have been produced secretively over the past three years by researchers looking into possible cures for a wide range of diseases.

The revelation comes just a day after a committee of scientists warned of a nightmare ‘Planet of the Apes’ scenario in which work on human-animal creations goes too far.

Last night a campaigner against the excesses of medical research said he was disgusted that scientists were ‘dabbling in the grotesque’.

Figures seen by the Daily Mail show that 155 ‘admixed’ embryos, containing both human and animal genetic material, have been created since the introduction of the 2008 Human Fertilisation Embryology Act.

This legalised the creation of a variety of hybrids, including an animal egg fertilised by a human sperm; ‘cybrids’, in which a human nucleus is implanted into an animal cell; and ‘chimeras’, in which human cells are mixed with animal embryos.

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1StLHquNf

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Edited July 23, 2011 by gigantor

[Guest Dudlow]

We are beginning to glimpse beyond the adamantine vault of the gods, the forbidden realm that hitherto only the human imagination could pry open. Now the genie is out of the bottle.

- Dudlow

[Guest billgreen2010]

wow.....to be very continued.....indeedy

[Guest]

I thought I would post this explanation from Wickie before everyone got the wrong idea. This research is still upsetting to some regardless but the above article misrepresents the intention and makes it sound like research on the par with Frankenstein's Monster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_%28genetics%29

In biological research, chimeras are artificially produced by physically mixing cells from two different organisms. Chimeras are not hybrids, which form from the fusion of gametes from two species (like a donkey and a horse) that form a single zygote that will develop as much as it can (in this case into a live mule if the parents are ******* and mare, or a hinny if the parents are stallion and jenny); in comparison, chimeras are the physical mixing of cells from two independent zygotes: for example, one from the donkey and one from the horse. "Chimera" is a broad term and is often applied to many different types of mixing of cells from two different species.

Some chimeras can result in the eventual development of an adult animal composed of cells from both donors, which may be of different species — for example, in 1984 a chimeric geep was produced by combining embryos from a goat and a sheep.[7] The "geep" has been a very important contributor to answering fundamental questions about development, and the techniques used to create it may one day help save endangered species. For example, if one tried to let a goat embryo gestate in a sheep, the sheep's immune system would reject the developing goat embryo; however, if one used a geep that shared markers of immunity with both sheep and goats, the goat embryo might survive. It may be possible to extend this practice for the purpose of preventing the extinction of some endangered animal species.

Such interspecies chimeras such as the "geep" are made in the laboratory and rarely with the purpose of generating living hybrid animals. Intraspecies chimeras are created by transplanting embryonic cells from an animal with one trait into an embryo of an animal with a different trait. This practice is common in the field of embryology and has been a very important contributor to our current understanding of human and animal biology. For example, by mixing embryonic cells of differently coloured or otherwise genetically distinct mice (of the same species), researchers have been able to see how embryos form and which organs and tissues are related (arise from the similar cell lineages).

Hybridomas are not true chimeras as described above because they do not result from the mixture of two cell types but result from fusion of two species' cells into a single cell and artificial propagation of this cell in the laboratory. Hybridomas have been very important tools in biomedical research for decades.

In August 2003, researchers at the Shanghai Second Medical University in China reported that they had successfully fused human skin cells and dead rabbit eggs to create the first human chimeric embryos. The embryos were allowed to develop for several days in a laboratory setting, then destroyed to harvest the resulting stem cells.[8] Because of the high therapeutic potential of human embryonic stem cells and the United States moratorium on using discarded embryos from in vitro fertilisation clinics as well as other concerns about using human embryos directly for research, scientists are trying to find alternative paths of research. However, increasingly realizable projects using part-human, part-animal chimeras as living factories not only for biopharmaceutical production but also for producing cells or organs (see hybridomas) for xenotransplantation raise a host of ethical and safety issues.

During November 2006, UK researchers from Newcastle University and King's College London applied to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year license to fuse human DNA with cow eggs. The proposal is to insert human DNA into a cow's egg which has had its genetic material removed and then create an embryo by the same technique that produced Dolly the Sheep. This research was attempted in the United States several years before and failed to yield such an embryo. In April 2008 the researchers from Newcastle University reported that their research had been successful. The resulting embryos lived for 3 days and the largest grew to a size of 32 cells. The researchers are aiming for embryos that live for 6 days so that embryonic stem cells can be harvested.

US and Western Europe have strict codes of ethics and regulations in place that expressly forbid certain kind of experimentation using human cells. Even between the US and Europe, however, there is a vast difference in the regulatory framework.[23] In May 2008, a robust debate in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom took place on the ethics of creating chimeras with human stem cells. It was decided that embryos would be allowed to be made in laboratories only if guarantees of destroying them within the first 14 days were given. In the United States as well, a heated discussion rages on whether human stem cells should be allowed in the creation of chimeras.

This can be a political issue, but as it concerns bigfoot and one of the theories behind his possible existence, I'm going to leave the topic open for now.

[BobbyO]

Trust the British..

[Guest Tsalagi]

Is this for real? This is unbelievable and somewhat creepy. Reminds me of The Island of Dr. Moreau.

[Guest wudewasa]

So there are chimeric embryos that exist, but those embryos are not implanted in a female and allowed to grow to full term, resulting in a birth, correct? Even if they were implanted, the chance of an organism being born is unlikely, due to the different gestational requirements of the species that comprise the chimera.

Even with in vitro fertilization, the ability for a woman to become pregnant is difficult, due to the fact that not all implanted embryos create a placenta and the hormonal levels are difficult to control.

The ethics of creating chimeras with human cells is controversial, but bringing an organism into this world is an abomination to most people. The idea of a humanzee (chimp x human) has been discussed, but the chromosome number of the two species is different, so I'm not sure if such mad science is even possible.

[Doc Holliday]

[Guest]

So there are chimeric embryos that exist, but those embryos are not implanted in a female and allowed to grow to full term, resulting in a birth, correct?

You are correct. This is related to stem cell research and associated treatments for different diseases, not for creating some kind of mythical creature like a mermaid or Minotaur. The article just throws it out there and lets the reader draw their own conclusions.

[gigantor]

It is a slippery slope... if there's no problem with it, how come they're doing it in secret?

Didn't Stalin attempt to create a super soldier? half-man, half-ape? maybe the Soviets did succeed, our govmint followed and we got BF as a result.

Edited July 23, 2011 by gigantor

[Guest]

It's not a secret, there are several research papers based on what they are doing. I don't know why the article says it's secret. Yes Stalin did do that without any success, I know that there is a theory that bigfoot is artificially created and figured that was where you were going with the topic.

[Guest nona]

So there are chimeric embryos that exist, but those embryos are not implanted in a female and allowed to grow to full term, resulting in a birth, correct? Even if they were implanted, the chance of an organism being born is unlikely, due to the different gestational requirements of the species that comprise the chimera.

Even with in vitro fertilization, the ability for a woman to become pregnant is difficult, due to the fact that not all implanted embryos create a placenta and the hormonal levels are difficult to control.

The ethics of creating chimeras with human cells is controversial, but bringing an organism into this world is an abomination to most people. The idea of a humanzee (chimp x human) has been discussed, but the chromosome number of the two species is different, so I'm not sure if such mad science is even possible.

A full grown chimp/human chimera may not be possible at the moment but who knows what the future may hold. Maybe one day every bigfooter with a few million to spare will be able to hirer a geneticist to make them a "Sasquatch" of their very own.

[Guest]

I'll suggest that bigfoot/sasquatch was the original and mankind was engineered from them. Which is more suited to survive on this planet? Which is the cosmic longshot? But that aside,

genetic engineering like this is WAY out there. The disclaimer of trying to cure diseases is nice but it doesn't wash with me. These people seem to want to be the next Dr. Frankenstein.

I'm not to really freaked by these particular experiments, since a monkey hybrid human isn't going to pollute the gene pool, but this type of genetic tinkering with plant species could cause famines and wholesale pestilence courtesy of the scientists we've been trying to impress with our fuzzy photos, track casts and sighting reports! Thanks college boys!!!!

[kitakaze]

The Daily Mail is a British, daily middle market tabloid newspaper. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982. Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in 1947 and 2006 respectively. The Daily Mail was Britain's first daily newspaper aimed at the newly-literate "lower-middle class market resulting from mass education, combining a low retail price with plenty of competitions, prizes and promotional gimmicks", and the first British paper to sell a million copies a day. It was, from the outset, a newspaper for women, being the first to provide features especially for them, and is still the only British newspaper whose readership is more than 50% female.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Mail

[Guest Strick]

It was always of interest to me that, although Bigfoot may not exist at the moment, in the very near future it will probably be possible to create such a creature.

We are always being told that we share 96% of our DNA with Chimps and only slightly less with the other higher primates; now, I'm no Geneticist, but surely it can't be such a tall order to hybridize the two and bring the birth full term?

Not all countries have ethical frameworks as rigorous as the USA and UK. When this procedure becomes possible, you can depend that somewhere in the world (North Korea?) the temptation to do the biology will become irresistible.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a hybrid is sitting in some lab right now....