The Monkey Man Cometh

The New York Times reports this morning that the National Academy of Sciences has drafted stem cell research guidelines. Among much else, the guidelines discuss the use of "chimeras": animals seeded with human cells.

The guidelines allow chimeras, but only under restrictions. You see, there could be a few small problems with chimeras:

The academy's guidelines would impose limits on three kinds of experiment that involve incorporating human embryonic stem cells into animals. Undesired consequences could follow if human cells were to become incorporated into the sex cells or the brains of animals. In the first case, there is a remote possibility that an animal with eggs made of human cells could mate with an animal bearing human sperm. To avoid human conception in such circumstances, the academy says chimeric animals should not be allowed to mate.

A second possible hazard is that the human embryonic stem cells might generate all or most of an animal's brain, leading to the possibility of a human mind imprisoned in an animal's body. Though neuroscientists consider this unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, particularly with animals closely related to people, like monkeys and apes. The academy advises that human embryonic stem cells not be injected into the embryos of nonhuman primates for the time being.

Tread carefully, ye all-mighty scientists. Tread carefully.

(By coincidence, Eric Scheske's weekly column at Catholic Exchange deals with science's distortions. If you want to see it, click here.)