A couple of weeks ago, the British government gave tentative approval to Britain’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to review scientific licenses to create “cybrids,” or hybridized human-animal embryos, for stem cell research. Cybrids, also known as cytoplastic hybrids, are created by injecting a human nucleus into an animal egg emptied of its own nucleus. Scientists say this interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer technique, and the cybrids that result, would dramatically increase the dwindling supply of stem cells needed to study degenerative disease. But there is absolutely no evidence that scientists are interested in creating “true hybrids,” those made by fusing a human sperm and an animal egg, or “human chimeras,” in which human cells are injected into animal embryos. The HFEA has not yet made a decision on these techniques, and there is no cause to assume researchers are interested in anything other than regular old stem cell research, the sort of research that holds such promise in finding cures to excruciating diseases. I realize, of course, that it is the human component of cybrids that is the greatest cause for concern, the fact we’re talking not about mixing dog breeds to come up with something fluffy and hypoallergenic, but about mixing species, our own among them. read more

Tags: egg, hypoallergenic dogs, animal, cybrids, embryos, human