Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera - which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs.
The purpose is making vital organs viable for transplantation into humans. Its an idea that could save lives, but I presume serious vegitarians wouldn't take such an organ. One wonders if this process has any impact on the sheep's brain. The comments in the thread here are entertaining... This is certainly a subject that bristles hairs in bioethics circles. The article states: When the lamb is born, two months later, it would have a liver, heart, lungs and brain that are partly human and available for transplant.
Now, obviously the brain would not be available for transplant, so its not clear exactly what this sentence means. One also wonders, if they are using adult stem cells, if those cells are not already typed, allowing them to control which organs actually end up containing human content. Now scientists create a sheep that's 15% human | the Mail on Sunday |