New warning on human-animal hybrids

UK: British scientists have called for an ethical watchdog to devise regulations to closely monitor the creation of human-animal hybrids. The Academy of Medical Sciences of the UK published a report on the use of Animals containing human material (ACHM) in scientific research, saying that scientists may not be far from turning animals into monsters, The Telegraph reported on Friday.

The report confirmed that animals containing human tissues, cells, or genetic information in their bodies play an important role in medical research but stressed the need for a robust system of regulation which maintains the highest standards of safety and ethics. The report has called for the establishment of a regulatory body to strictly monitor all the experiments which risk creating animals with human-like consciousness or animals with appearance or behavioral traits similar to humans or that produce hybrid human-animal embryos. The UK Academy of Medical Sciences has warned that the call should be taken seriously because of the ‘Frankenstein fear’ that the medical research which creates ‘humanized’ animals is going to generate monsters.