FACTS:
While human-animal embryos have been created before, they were destroyed before they were allowed to develop.
Most countries have outright banned the practice entirely. Japan, however, has made it not only legal to transplant hybrid embryo’s, but now will allow their scientists to bring them to term.
With more than 116,000 patients waiting on an organ transplant list in the U.S., this science has the potential to save all of them.
QUOTES:
Lead stem cell researcher at the University of Tokyo and Stanford University, Hiromitsu Nakauchi has made it his life’s work to merge human organs with animals like sheep or pigs. Here’s what he says about getting the green light:
“We don’t expect to create human organs immediately, but this allows us to advance our research based upon the know-how we have gained up to this point,”
“We are trying to ensure that the human cells contribute only to the generation of certain organs,”
“With our new, targeted organ generation, we don’t need to worry about human cells integrating where we don’t want them, so there should be many fewer ethical concerns.”
SOURCE:
For the full breakdown, head on over to Stanford Universities site here.
