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luke
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea
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 Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:17 pm Post subject: Chimera embryos have right to life, say bishops |
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| Quote: | Human-animal hybrid embryos conceived in the laboratory - so-called “chimeras” - should be regarded as human and their mothers should be allowed to give birth to them, the Roman Catholic Church said yesterday.
Under draft Government legislation to be debated by Parliament later this year, scientists will be given permission for the first time to create such embryos for research as long as they destroy them within two weeks.
But the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, in a submission to the Parliamentary joint committee scrutinising the draft legislation, said that the genetic mothers of “chimeras” should be able to raise them as their own children if they wished.
The bishops said that they did not see why these “interspecies” embryos should be treated any differently than others.
The wide-ranging draft Human Tissue and Embryo Bill, which aims to overhaul the laws on fertility treatment, will include sections on test tube babies, embryo research and abortion. Ministers say that the creation of animal-human embryos - created by injecting animal cells or DNA into human embryos or human cells into animal eggs - will be heavily regulated.
They insist that it will be against the law to implant “chimeras” - named after the mythical creature that was half man and half animal - into a woman’s womb.
The bishops, who believe that life begins at conception, said that they opposed the creation of any embryo solely for research, but they were also anxious to limit the destruction of such life once it had been brought into existence.
In their submission to the committee, they said: “At the very least, embryos with a preponderance of human genes should be assumed to be embryonic human beings, and should be treated accordingly.
“In particular, it should not be a crime to transfer them, or other human embryos, to the body of the woman providing the ovum, in cases where a human ovum has been used to create them.
“Such a woman is the genetic mother, or partial mother, of the embryo; should she have a change of heart and wish to carry her child to term, she should not be prevented from doing so.”
The draft Bill will also allow the screening of embryos for genetic or chromosomal abnormalities that might lead to serious medical conditions, disabilities, or miscarriage. It will permit doctors to check whether an embryo could provide a suitable tissue match for a sibling suffering from a life-threatening illness.
The Bill would abolish the requirement for fertility clinics to consider the need for a father when deciding on treatment. This means clinics will no longer be able to deny treatment to lesbians and single mothers.
The Catholic bishops said that most of the procedures covered by the Bill “should not be licensed under any circumstances”, principally on the grounds that they violate human rights.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/26/nchimera126.xml |
human-animal hybrids?!   |
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girldorksrule
Arrrrrrr...scurvy!
Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Location: Walkin' the plank
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| Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:35 pm Post subject: Re: Chimera embryos have right to life, say bishops |
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[quote="luke"] | Quote: | | Human-animal hybrid embryos conceived in the laboratory - so-called “chimeras” - should be regarded as human and their mothers should be allowed to give birth to them, the Roman Catholic Church said yesterday. |
Who, exactly, are the mothers? |
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Skylace
Admin
Joined: 29 Apr 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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| Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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Chimeras are not just human animal hybrids. So I don't know what they're going on about. Chimera's occur naturally within the human population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)
I watched an interesting documentary on this a while back and became fascinated with chimeras. The documentary was called "I Am My Own Twin" What basically happens is that a chimera contains more then one DNA blueprint. And they know how many chimeras there actually are in the world as studies have really just begun. Someone could have the same DNA throughout their body but their saliva could have a totally different DNA.
In the documentary a woman had to undergo genetic testing for legal reasons in a custody battle and it turned out the man was the father of the two children but the tests said she was NOT the mother. So the government came in and was saying she lied about them being her children to get support from social services. She was pregnant at the time and refused to do an amnio but allowed the child to be tested right after birth and it turned out that child showed up as not being her child either. The lawyers tried to say she had the babies switched. Genetic researches were working with her and proved that she possesses two different sets of DNA and it's not visible on her skin as it can be on others. She did finally win her case. The judge even stating that it makes him worry about DNA testing in custody battles because how many men may have actually been the father but had been a chimera. |
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Marcella-FL
Don't make me pull this van over!!!
Joined: 01 May 2006
Location: KMC, Germany
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| Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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| bizarre but very cool .... |
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