The ethical issues around human-monkey chimeras

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scientists have made human-monkey embryos and cultured them in the lab for two weeks made international headlines.

The technology to make animals that contain cells from other species has been available for decades and used extensively in research. These organisms are called "chimeras".

They were interested in addressing the shortage of life-saving organs for human transplantation. If done successfully, a chimera could grow an organ suitable for direct transplant into a human.

unlike Frankenstein's experiments, this study was not done in secret.

In the paper, the researchers describe in detail the steps they took to comply with international guidelines. This included extensive ethics reviews undertaken within the institutions involved and consultation with external bioethicists.

Of note, the study involved the use of eggs harvested from female monkeys. While the animals weren't killed

Humans are widely (but not universally) thought to have a higher moral status than other animals. But human-animal chimeras blur this line. They are not fully human, nor fully non-human.

Humans pride themselves on their autonomy, rationality and sophisticated self-awareness. If a human-pig chimera developed this capacity, it may have a moral claim to be treated more like a human than a pig.

Many jurisdictions explicitly limit human embryo research to the first 14 days of development, when what will become the central nervous system begins to develop.

Qns: 

1. Examine the view that the scientist is concerned only with knowledge, not morality. (Cam. 2020)

2. Can the use of animals for scientific research ever be justified? (Cam. 2017)

3. To what extent should there be limits to scientific research?