English: Fear of 'half-human beasts'

Duy An (synthesized)

The Greeks seem to have a reason to build the legendary Centaur, a half-horse and half-human monster. This can become a reality through a command to allow the hybridization of newly issued human and animal embryonic cells of the British government

Human embryo and reproductive organs (HEFA) on September 5 allowed scientists to breed human and animal embryos. The decision was announced after British scientists proposed the work of inserting a nucleus containing DNA from human cells into cow's egg cells that had nearly completely cut off the nucleus to produce a hybrid with a 99.9% human chromosomes and only 0.1% of animals. This hybrid embryonic cell contains about 13 animal genes, and 20,000 to 25,000 human genes. Cows, sheep, rabbits . are prioritized in these studies.

The argument of science

Sperm enters the egg.Protest groups claim that at this moment human germs have emerged, so damage to embryonic cells is a crime of abortion and murder.(Photo: TL)

The decision to allow HFEA to study hybrid embryos also means the proposal of two groups of scientists from Newcastle University and the Royal College of London to use the study to overcome the shortage of resources. human eggs, may be approved in November. Scarcity of eggs to study is real. Scientists need tens of thousands of eggs to study, but no woman wants to donate eggs to do research. English law does not allow the sale of eggs. In some isolated cases, egg prices are so high that they cannot be bought.

The second reason scientists propose is that these hybrid cells help develop research to treat diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries . Researchers say the study is not intended to create a The hybrid consists of animal and animal blends, which will provide scientists with stem cells to develop treatments for disease. Each hybrid embryonic cell is only stored for 14 days to study, and then destroyed.

Reason of morality

However, HFEA's decision was strongly opposed. Opponents argue that the creation of hybrid embryos will lead to a tendency to destroy humanity later and this action is unnatural and violates moral morals. The Vatican also criticized it as "a direct criminal act against human dignity".

Thanks to this experiment, scientists can create a baby with two intestinal mothers. Mother and mother crawling. With this argument, the Daily Express questioned: 'Is this a ridiculous Frankenstein-type experiment?' The Daily Mail and the Telegraph suggested that this experiment could create

Then when we hybridize, will we have half-man and half-horse products?(Photo: xprojectmagazine)

pre-designed baby. The Telegraph argues: 'If those embryonic cells are sufficiently human to study, why is it not enough to see that taking them out to study is wrong?'

The Times called this hybrid cell ' Chimera cell '. Chimera means the illusory thing and is also the name of the monster in the Greek myth, the lion's head, his goat, the snake's tail. The Times commented, the British government allows people to lose their dignity to join the animal world.

The revelation of HFEA

Before issuing this order, HFEA did a public survey. The survey results show that most support the hybridization of human and animal cells. However, protesters argue that HFEA has deceived public opinion.

First , politicians often appear democratic through referendums, so it is not uncommon to see these people taking part in the HFEA poll. However, not all politicians have knowledge in too specialized areas such as this cell division. Those who consider themselves to be neutral, and those who do not have information on this matter of course do not participate. Oddly, these people took the majority, representing the public. The majority of respondents who participated in the poll and voted in favor were few advocating this policy. For example, when the UK Department of Health's revision of fertility law is explored, it is seen that all advocacy groups for this law are involved.

Secondly , The Times reported that HFEA used tricks when organizing exploration, to obtain the desired results. HFEA uses both main channels to explore: answer questionnaires and participate in general workshops.

Can " human-animal " hybrid cells develop into such little angels?

In their questionnaires, HFEA uses the art of arranging questions, so that participants respond to and eliminate the number of people who object. Then those who agreed were put into the seminar, so that eventually 65% ​​of the people who participated in the cell support survey were involved. In those questionnaires, HFEA does not address ethics.

David King, director of the Genetic Alerts Center, said: 'It is disappointing, but it is not surprising that HFEA has never been able to say no to scientists. These experiments are useless and have moral problems'.

The Times concludes the article with the comment: 'In fact, with these studies, scientists want to win the power of the god of death and replace creation to play the role of giving life to people'.