Human-Animal Hybrids and Other Crimes Against Nature

Last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban human-animal hybrids from being developed in the state. No, they haven't been reading too much science fiction — labs around the world are toying with the creation of human-animal embryos for research, as well as projects like implanting human brain cells into mice.

British lawmakers approved the use of hybrid embryos two years ago. They take empty cow or rabbit eggs, inject them with human DNA, then let them develop for a couple weeks before harvesting the stem cells.

Would they have approved it the other way around, harvesting human eggs to inject with animal DNA? Unlikely, since that gets into the uncomfortable territory of human testing.

In theory, no one is harmed by these experiments because it's basically test tube science. The humans and animals being combined aren't present — it's just their eggs and cells. (How they get those eggs might be another story, but if they're warehousing animals just for that purpose, it's inexcusable.) What's next? How long will it be before someone decides that the "solution" to some problem is to use live animals as incubators for human organs. Oh, wait, they're already doing that.

Researchers have created a mouse with an almost completely human liver so they can give it human liver disease and see how human drugs work on it. They call these "humanized mice," but apparently that hasn't increased human empathy for these creatures.

As these human-animal (or any genetic engineering) experiments progress, what happens if the research animals escape? It does happen. Then we would be unleashing genetic mutants into nature to breed with native populations and ... Well, the problem is that nobody knows what happens next and that's dangerous. But that hasn't stopped scientists from intentionally sending their lab creations into the world.

Just this morning, Science Daily reported that a new strain of mosquitoes was developed where the females can't fly, so they die off quickly, and the males can fly, but they can't bite. Now, mosquitoes are far from being my favorite member of the animal kingdom (I'm one of those people they love to bite), and mosquito-borne diseases are serious and on the rise, thanks to climate change, but what are the implications of releasing these insects with the intention of them passing along their fatalistic genes?

Scientists claim that this "could sustainably suppress the native mosquito population." But what if they're wrong? This is a totally uncontrolled experiment on nature, and wiping out the mosquito population could have devastating unintentional consequences on the ecosystem. It doesn't help the population of developing countries to be dengue-fever-free if their environment no longer supports agriculture or if diseases that had been suppressed are no longer kept in check. These things are kept in balance by the insect population, and knocking one species out could have a domino effect.

Despite these very serious unknowns, scientists are psyched to play around with genetic engineering and human-animal hybrids. Religious groups find it entirely immoral. From an animal welfare perspective, I find it irresponsible. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.

Science keeps advancing genetic modifications and, moral implications aside, we simply don't know what the impact will be. These scientists need to get out of the lab a bit more often and consider how these experiments will affect the world around them, not just the microcosm of whatever the disease-of-the-moment is that they're working to eradicate.