'Human-animal' embryo ruling due

Regulators are due to make a decision whether to allow human-animal embryos to be created and used for research.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is expected to give the plan the go-ahead in principle – but each case will still be judged individually.

An HFEA consultation showed the public were "at ease" with the idea when told it could pave the way for therapies for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
But a leading opponent said many people would be "horrified" by such a move.

"No good reasons for banning this research have been identified"
Dr Evan Harris, Lib Dem MP

Scientists want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs in a bid to extract stem cells.
The cells form the basic building blocks of the body and have the potential to become any tissue, making them essential for research.

At the moment, scientists have to rely on human eggs left over from fertility treatment, but they are in short supply and are not always good quality.

Two teams from Kings College London and Newcastle University have already applied to the HFEA to use hybrid embryos.

Dr Lyle Armstrong University, of Newcastle University, said: "It does seem a little abhorrent at first analysis, but you have to understand we are using very, very little information from the cow in order to do this reprogramming idea.
"It's not our intention to create any bizarre cow-human hybrid, we want to use those cells to understand how to make human stem cells better."

[From BBC website]

So what do people think? The idea is that human DNA is injected into empty animal egg cells, then stimulated to divide and create stem cells which can then become specialized as heart, brain, and (this is what excites me) pancreas cells, in order to cure all sorts of problems such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.

Obviously I'm hugely in favor of the research – I have no ethical objections, and it's a step closer to, potentially, a cure for my own diabetes. I'm interested in other people's opinions though.

there are already some techniques being used that involve creating transgenic animals by combining human cells with already fertilized animal embryos. I guess this is just one step further.

what really would be the ethical objection though? i guess people are afraid of the creation of a chimera or something.

I support reasearch like this aswell. Seeing people like my aunt living with kidney failure, and knowing that stem cell research and stem cell therapy could help her, there is no way that i could be against it. Since trail stem cell therapy hasnt been successful this could help the researchers learn ways to increase its sucess rate.