Chimera Discrimination

First they came for the chimeras:

S. 659: The Human Chimera Prohibition Act of 2005

On March 17, Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), introduced S. 659, the Human Chimera Prohibition Act of 2005. The bill would prohibit any person from creating, or attempting to create a human chimera. A “human chimera” is broadly defined to include various methods of mixing non-human cells into human embryos. The bill includes both civil and criminal penalties. S. 659 has no cosponsors and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Seriously, how long is it before technology is running too quick for SF folks to keep ahead? Hopefully, this won’t pass in time for Stanford to birth some superintelligent human-brained mice:

Later this year he may conduct another experiment where the mice have 100 percent human brains. This would be done, he said, by injecting human neurons into the brains of embryonic mice.

Before being born, the mice would be killed and dissected to see if the architecture of a human brain had formed. If it did, he’d look for traces of human cognitive behavior.

Weissman said he’s not a mad scientist trying to create a human in an animal body. He hopes the experiment leads to a better understanding of how the brain works, which would be useful in treating diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.

Note to self: under no circumstances should one ever say “I am not a mad scientist.”

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5 Comments

  1. Samantha
    Posted 11/10/2005 at 3:57 pm | Permalink

    I think it is absolutely stupid for any person to create chimeras. I’m researching this topic for a school project and it absolutely disgusts me that people would making such creatures. No they are not creatures, they are monsters. I thank Senator Sam Brownback for standing up to change this disgusting act.

  2. alex
    Posted 11/10/2005 at 4:13 pm | Permalink

    Samantha: Sure chimera’s weird people out, but that isn’t enough to outlaw them. We don’t outlaw things merely because they disgust us. If forms of human-pig hybrids could save children’s lives, isn’t that enough? Or, heck, if they don’t do damage, couldn’t it be considered a kind of art-form?

  3. danielle
    Posted 1/26/2006 at 6:00 pm | Permalink

    i am also reserching this for a school project and i agree with samantha this is just wrong no one should mess with things like this. they were created a certin way and we should not go screwing up things we dont fully understand.

  4. alex
    Posted 1/26/2006 at 6:02 pm | Permalink

    Does that mean we should not cure genetic diseases? After all, if we are “made that way”…

  5. Charles Crow
    Posted 2/17/2006 at 5:40 pm | Permalink

    Durring the dark ages, there were many who beleived we shouldn’t experiment with nature. There are many things yet to discover. We should do what we can and it will be done with or without the general publics knowledge. There are many things to fear, but knowledge shouldn’t be one of them. It’s all we have that makes living worth living.

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