Theos-Talk Archives (August 2001 Message tt00214)

Man-beast hybrid beyond talking stage

Human DNA in cow egg

Scott Foster

The Edmonton Journal

Melding man and beast may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but it's 
not.## Amid all the advances in genetic manipulation, the idea of combining 
the DNA of animals and humans has gone beyond the talking stage -- it's 
been attempted.

Indeed, many scientists and academics are wondering how far it might go and 
what the ethical implications would be. If a human were crossed with a 
chimpanzee, for example, would it still be human? And if not, then what 
would it be?## The first publicized case of animal-human hybrids took place 
in 1996 when Jose Cibelli, a scientist at the University of Massachusetts, 
took DNA from his white blood cells by swabbing the inside of his cheek. He 
then inserted the DNA sample into a hollowed-out cow egg.

Cibelli's experiment came to an end after a week of growing the cell mass, 
he told scientists earlier this month at a panel meeting of the National 
Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.## This raised the question of what 
might have emerged had the cell mass continued to develop.

"As far as we know, it would still look like a human being, but some of the 
characteristics of individual cells might be slightly different," said 
James Cross, a molecular biologist at the University of Calgary who 
attended the meeting.

If such an embryo could develop, he said, the result would resemble a human 
being but carry bovine mitochondria, the energy-producing component of 
every cell. This is because the cow's egg shell, or cytoplasm, contains 
genetic materials known as mitochondrial DNA.

"This suggests that we can create new human-animal species," said Jeremy 
Rifkin, biotechnology critic and president of the Washington-based 
Foundation on Economic Trends.

Rifkin called the experiment "the most extraordinary single development in 
the history of biotechnology."

Such experiments have become public only when the makers of hybrids, who 
fund their operations through investor capital, apply to patent their 
inventions.

In partnership with Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology, Cibelli 
came out from under a shroud of secrecy in 1998 when the firm applied to 
patent the alleged invention.

Last October, Greenpeace Germany dug up a patent claim for a similar 
human-animal hybrid, only this time it involved a pig. U.S.-based 
Biotransplant and Australia-based Stem Cell Sciences grew a pig-human 
embryo to 32 cells before ending its life.

"If the embryo had lived, it would be 95% human," said Michael Khoo, a 
genetic engineering campaigner for Greenpeace's Toronto branch. "The 
possibilities are not only frightening, but it's unknown just how many 
other similar patent applications are out there."

Meanwhile, critics and futurists are having a field day speculating on the 
future of biotechnology.## "Chimpanzees share between 95% and 98% of our 
genes, so the prospect of creating a human-chimpanzee hybrid are highly 
probable," Rifkin said. "The question becomes: What percentage of human 
genes will it take before human rights kick in? Would a hybrid have to look 
and talk like a human before it can get human rights?"

While the concept of making and owning such a creation for 20 years under 
patent law is controversial to say the least, the science behind combining 
animal eggs and human DNA could be useful, said Cross. "In the case of 
Dolly, it took 277 eggs to get the sheep. In normal IVF programs, the 
number of eggs you get usually ranges between five and 10. So, to solve a 
potential shortage, some scientists have considered using an egg from a 
different species to house human DNA."

While such an attempt to improve the egg supply may be scientifically 
possible, people are not ready for such a brave new world which involves 
crossing the species barrier, said Diane Cox, who chairs the medical 
genetics department at the University of Alberta. "Right now, technology is 
way ahead of ethics. The Canadian population is worried enough about 
relatively trivial things, let alone such a bizarre concept."