Given the fact that most secular scientists believe that humans are no more than “evolved animals”, it is not surprising that many in the scientific community are more than happy to experiment with adding human cells to pig and sheep embryos. The controversy surrounding creating human-animal chimeras has hit the news yet again as scientists have announced they have successfully transferred human cells to sheep and goat embryos.
Last year, scientists announced that they had introduced human cells into pigs. While the news generated an outcry from those who feel that pig and human DNA should not be mixed and messed around with, the fact is that there was only 1 human cell for every 100,000 pig cells. The pig embryos with human DNA were allowed to grow for about 28 days before being destroyed. What is more, scientists noted that there were not enough human cells in the pig to develop organs that could eventually be transplanted into humans.
However, the new announcement takes matters one step further. Researchers in Japan and the United States have not only introduced human cells into goat and sheep embryos but have used far more human cells than researches did in the past. In fact, the embryos contained 1 human cell for every 10,000 sheep/goat cells. Like the pigs, the embryos were destroyed in order to prevent the creation of full-fledged human/sheep chimeras.
Scientists involved in these experiments justify their work by saying that they are trying to save lives by providing an abundance of organs that could be used for much-needed transplants. They note that the very limited supply of human organs available for transplant means that many people around the world are dying for lack of new heart, kidney or some other essential organ.
Furthermore, even those who do receive transplants often have a lot of medical problems with the new organs as the body automatically rejects organs from another individual, even if that individual is closely related to the person who got the transplant. While medications can help suppress the immune system so that transplants are not rejected, in many cases the eventual result is full organ rejection and eventual death.
The creation of human/animal chimera “organ farms” aims to address both the lack of available organs and the rejection problem. If tens of thousands of animals were growing human organs, even those who are not in critical need of a transplant could receive one for whatever reason. Furthermore, stem cell and genome editing technology could be used to grow custom-made organs with a particular individual’s DNA. This means that the body may accept these organs because it recognizes its own DNA inside of them.
However, in spite of the fact that many scientists may have good reasons and intentions for mixing human and animal DNA, there are many reasons to be wary of such experiments. The creation of what could eventually be human-animal “sub-species” is not something that any reasonable scientists should aspire to.
Ethical questions aside, no human being can know what the result would be if human-animal chimeras were allowed to be birthed and give birth to other animals. More importantly, no one knows what would happen if a so-called human organ that has grown in a sheep or a pig were to be implanted in a human being. It could impact that person’s DNA and even impact the lives of any children that person may have after having received the transplant.
While the research is in its early stages, the fact is that scientists experimenting with human and animal DNA are heading down a dangerous, slippery slope. What began as injecting very small amounts of human DNA into pigs has now grown into injecting far more human DNA into sheep and goats.
This isn’t the stopping place as those involved in the experiments are already stating that organs grown in animals would need to be at least 1% human in order to be successfully transplanted into humans. This means injecting one human cell for every 100 animal cells to create viable human-animal organs.
While no one is presently calling for animal-grown human organs that are more than 1% human, it is not inconceivable that some will eventually do so. It is also not inconceivable that scientists will be content with their present position of avoiding the introduction of human cells into animal brains and reproductive organs.
After all, in these scientists minds there is no God and therefore really no rules governing how human DNA should and should not be used.
~ Christian Patriot Daily
