Debate Rages Over Animal-Human Chimeras

Should medical researchers be allowed to create human-animal hybrids to investigate disease? No, says an ethics think tank that advises the Scottish Parliament. Yes, says Ian Wilmut of the University of Edinburgh, creator of Dolly the cloned sheep.

In its 8 August report, the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics advocates banning embryos containing human and animal genetic material and cloned embryos created by combining human cells with cow or rabbit oocytes, something Wilmut wants to attempt in order to study motor neurone disease.