Our Newest Creation - Human/Rabbit Hybrids

www.guardian.co.uk...

This is absolutely insane. I understand the quest for science
and for medical research, but this is just asking for trouble.

They promise not to let the rabbitized human children grow for
more than 2 weeks invitro ... now. But wait ... science will
push that and push that. Some children will be 'forgotten'
... 'oooops how did we let that grow to 3 months??'

Will the child be human? Will it be a rabbit?
Right now he or she will just be a science experiment.

AND I can't help but think that any information gleened
from this couldn't possibly help humanity. I don't see
how injecting any other creatures DNA into me could
be healthy at all. Prehaps that's because I'm not a
scientist and there is some good ... but I just see trouble.

www.guardian.co.uk...

Excerpt

Ian Sample, science correspondent
Friday January 13, 2006
The Guardian

British scientists are seeking permission to create hybrid embryos in the
lab by fusing human cells with rabbit eggs. If granted consent, the team
will use the embryos to produce stem cells that carry genetic defects, in
the hope that studying them will help understand the complex mechanisms
behind incurable human diseases.

Plans for the experiments have been put forward by Professor Chris Shaw,
a neurologist and expert in motor neurone disease at King's College
London, and Professor Ian Wilmut, the Edinburgh University-based creator
of Dolly the sheep, as a way of overcoming the shortage of fresh human
eggs available for research.
....

The resulting embryo would contain only a tiny amount of rabbit DNA in a
microscopic structure that generates energy in the cell. The rest of the DNA
would be human.

This I totally agree with when dealing with humans-

If you put cells from one species into the egg of another,
the egg may divide, but you could get a lot of genetic abnormality
that won't lead to good quality stem cells

More info at the site -
www.guardian.co.uk...


[edit on 1/14/2006 by FlyersFan]

What I find most amusing is that the Korean researcher is being destroyed for publically releasing stem cell technology under Open Source terms. Like human stem cell technology hasn't been under private development since WW2 - or like it's somehow way more complicated than crossing humans and rabbits. Gimme a break.

We're allowed to hear about and comment on the freaky stuff - but anything that might benefit us is suppressed. Why? Because insurance companies don't want to provide coverage.

Will the child be human? Will it be a rabbit?
Right now he or she will just be a science experiment.

The same thing was said about Louise Brown, the first in vitro baby. Many people were opposed to what they said was "a slap in the face to nature" by manipulating the process of feritilization. Now, however, it is a great benefit for those who have trouble conceiving.

AND I can't help but think that any information gleened
from this couldn't possibly help humanity. I don't see
how injecting any other creatures DNA into me could
be healthy at all. Prehaps that's because I'm not a
scientist and there is some good ... but I just see trouble.

That's exactly it, you aren't a scientist. They aren't injecting another creature's DNA in to YOU, they are taking human skin cells and introducing them into rabbit eggs. The advatage is that they divide faster and are more abundant with fewer legal restrictions than human eggs. It's the same reason we grow up viruses in chicken albumin often. It's cheaper, easier, and much more legal that growing them up in human tissue cultures.

And now, let's get to Soficrow's amazing circus we call his posts...:

Like human stem cell technology hasn't been under private development since WW2

Are you honestly suggesting our government was working on stem cells twenty full years before we even knew the nature of DNA? Come now, Soficrow, use some sense here.

We're allowed to hear about and comment on the freaky stuff - but anything that might benefit us is suppressed. Why? Because insurance companies don't want to provide coverage.

I would think the drug companies would make more money off of the suppression of the stem cell treatments. Can you imagine how much cash the insurance companies would make if they insured someone for the stem cell treatment and then got them to buy insurance in case "something went wrong" and you rejected the stem cells? It's the same basic premise of flood, fire, tornado, etc insurance. Even if you are not likely to need it, they will give you an example of someone just like you whose stem cell treatment went awry, and do you really want that to happen to you and then not be able to afford the fix? See? It's that easy for insurance companies to make money off of it. The drug companies, however, not so much.

Ciao,
~MFP

I'll have to agree with bsl4doc on this one.
There is always something to be gleaned from an experiment; the question of ethics can be stretched indefinitely but considering that such hybrid would be terminated at 7 days max (provided it actually works in the first place, which I have doubts about) - it is not even considred an embryo per se. It is still a blastocyst/trophoblast and would only have just started the implantation process. In other words, the entire point of this study wouldn't be to mix humans and rabbits and see what happens (not that this is even possible) - but to see if rabbit egg cytoplasm is a viable host environment for generating a human stem cell line. Very practical seeing how there aren't too many cheap human eggs around.
And Soficrow, I don't suppose you're talking about Hwang Woo-suk? The same one that faked data for the boasting benefits of his country? A sad day for scientists everywhere.
Also, stem cell research has nothing really to do with crossing humans and rabbits (which, again, is impossible). All of science is in some way aimed at helping out the common folk, even if the subject may be somewhat abstract. "Freaky stuff" is just misinterpreted flashbang headlines soaked up by the ignorant masses.