In early September, Britain's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) approved the concept of creating hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs for research purposes. Using a cloning technique, scientists want to fuse a human cell with an animal egg stripped of its own nucleus. Once fused, factors remaining in the non-human egg would initiate processes by which an embryonic organism would develop. Whether the non-human source of eggs are remotely genetically related (cow eggs) or proximately related (monkey eggs), the resulting product would, in the opinion of leading experts in mammalian cloning, be essentially human, save for the negligible influence of the non-human genetic material (the mitochondria) found afloat in the enucleated egg. From such embryos, British researchers want to extract embryonic stem cells.

By creating hybrid embryos using animal eggs and the cells of patients suffering from incurable genetic diseases such as ALS (Lou Gherig's disease), researchers hope to develop matching lines of stem cells that carry the disease, and to use them to develop therapies. Using animal eggs would allow researchers to by-pass ethical concerns regarding the use of human eggs. And under current law in the U.K., the hybrid embryos would be destroyed after 14 days.

A sizable portion of the research community believes such experiments in forming chimeras are unfeasible. Scientists with experience in mammalian cloning, including Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health and Science University, acknowledge that interspecies cloning only works with close species. Mitalipov says the chances that bovine eggs would reprogram human cells into embryonic stem cells are very slim. Several labs have tried these experiments for almost a decade with no success.

So why are some scientists pursuing this line of research? While there may be little to gain in scientific knowledge, perhaps the situation is most useful for pushing the moral boundaries of scientific inquiry. But consider this: scientists say that this type of research would - if successful - produce an embryo that is 99.9 percent human, and .1 percent animal. In essence then, the research aims to create a human embryo with the most minute bit of animal mitochondrial influence. This organism's fate is to be destroyed by scientists for research purposes.

Human beings - whether embryonic, children or adults - should not be destroyed for purposes of scientific research or for the potential well-being of others. If we can create mostly-human embryos for the purpose of research, then we are further undermining the already assaulted moral boundary against destroying some humans for the benefit of others.

Fr. Thomas, a priest of the Legionaries of Christ, founded the Institute in 1998. He received an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University in 1997, and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Rome's Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum in 1999. His areas of specialization include natural law theory, personhood theory, and biomedical issues dealing with the beginning of life.

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