Science fiction becomes science fact

It sounds like science fiction. The British Government has expressed resistance to the idea of creating “Human-Hybrid” embryos, reportedly, for use in stem cell research. A
temporary ban has caused uproar in the scientific community. Britain has long been a leader in stem cell research, and is considered a model for any similar American research project.

Although human stem cell research may lead to cures for diseases and conditions ranging from Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s to paralysis, the process of hybridization should be seen by everyone as dangerous and ethically unsound.

H.G. Wells first broached the subject of “transgenics” in the novel “The Island of Doctor Moreau,” where human and animal were combined through surgical methods, but Wells could never have foreseen such possibilities as they present themselves today. Already, scientists have bred mice whose neurons are one percent human, and these same scientists hope to breed mice with 100 percent human brains.

Science fiction has often been the playground for what eventually became science fact. Writers in the late nineteenth century fantasized about men walking on the moon or traveling to distant planets. Aldous Huxley, in “A Brave New World,” imagined a world where mankind was able to produce children through in vitro fertilization, socialites traveled to reservations as tourists, and the drug Soma was used to manage depression. Other authors predicted weapons that could obliterate entire cities, reducing them to ash and rubble.

The current hybridization procedure involves implanting human DNA into a cow or rabbit egg, and allowing the egg to proceed along its normal process of growth, eventually implanting itself into the uterine wall of the host “mother,” becoming a fetus, and if allowed to, coming to term and being birthed.

Shouldn’t this make one uneasy? Shouldn’t the idea of creating transgenic hybrid spike some kind of concern in our hearts?
It is true, hybridization does occur in nature. The offspring of a polar and grizzly bear has been spotted in the wild, and the often joked about and oversized “liger” (the result of coerced breeding between a tiger and a lion) does exist, but, one must remember that these animals are the offspring of two closely related animals. However, the prospect of hybridizing a human with another mammal, such as a rabbit or cow should be anathema.

Semantics aside, humanity has removed itself from the natural processes of the animal world. We no longer consider ourselves animals. We alter our environment rather than creating a niche. For evidence of such sentiment, one needs to look no farther than the FDA, which requires extensive animal testing before any drug may be tested on humans. The truth is, we have begun to play with the realms of nature, and no good can come of it.

Perhaps the most alarming insight is that science is considering transgenics for the same reason humanity
usually carries out its flights of fancy. Science simply can. Scientists, for better or for worse, have developed the ability to cross human and animal genes, and to hybridize human beings.
The truth is that science is interfering with the separation between the species. Some force, whether its name is nature, evolution, or God, is being toyed with irresponsibly. Science is preparing to step through a boundary that we can never return from.

One must consider the next step; humans and chimpanzees, being the closest of all primate relatives, are separated by an alarmingly small number of genes and it is even hypothesized that chimpanzees and humans interbred as late as 5 million years ago, shortly after the separation of the species. Can you imagine a “humanzee?” In the novel “Next,” Michael Crichton can, and his name is Dave. Dave is the size of a small child, with skin too light, hair too thin, and a face too flat for a chimpanzee. Dave has a raspy voice, he is a fast learner, but has trouble with his verb tenses. Dave believes he is a human, but he knows he doesn’t quite fit in with the other kids at school. Dave was the product in a hybridization experiment. Is there any reason that he should ever exist in reality?