Wednesday, April 13, 2005

The Animal Made Human

From Merriam-Webster: Chimera - b : an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts

The Chimera is a monster of ancient Greek mythology, said to be made of parts of three different animals; the lion, the goat, and the serpant. It was a creature to be feared and hated. In modern times, "chimera" has taken on another, related meaning. Again from Merriam-Webster:

Chimera - an individual, organ, or part consisting of tissues of diverse genetic constitution

This
article in the NY Times magazine made me aware of the disturbing reality that not only are we well on our way to creating creatures composed of various parts of animals, but we are also already making what the ancient Greeks considered the most horrifying of monsters, those that were part man and part animal. Everyone probably remembers the story of the mouse with the human ear growing on it's back, but scientists are going far beyond that experiment, to creating animals that are being changed on the genetic level, such that their fundamental architecture is altered.

The writer describes an sheep altered by having human stem cells injected into it when it was still a fetus:

According to Zanjani, when he examined the sheep he discovered that the human cells had traveled with their lymphatic system throughout the sheep's body, developing into blood, bone, liver, heart and assorted other cells, including some in the brain. While some scientists are skeptical of his findings, Zanjani told me that some have livers that are as much as 40 percent humanized, with distinct human structural units pumping out uniquely human proteins.

Some researchers are prepared to go beyond even this. The writer describes the work of another scientist, who is seeking to inject human stem cells in fetal mice, to allow them to differentiate through the embryo in such a way as to alter the mouse even moreso then the sheep mentioned above. Such an experiement could, if successful, lead to the very real possibility that mice treated in such fashion-if allowed to come to term-could have mostly human reproductive systems that are capable of creating a human fetus...in a female mouse.

Many people would be repulsed by this idea...but why? Why is there a sense of revulsion associated with the infusing of human features into animals, or in combining animal features? Dr. Leon Kass, the chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, characterizes this as the "yuck" factor. At a certain point, this sense of unease regarding an experimental creature is a signal that perhaps there is something morally wrong with what's going on. But what is "morally" wrong with a creature with a human liver? Or lungs? Or reproductive organs?

One researcher in particular, Irving Weissman, has in the works an experiment in which human neural stem cells are transplanted into the brains of fetal mice whose own brain cells are genetically programmed to die, so that-if allowed to come to term-the mouse would have a brain composed almost entirely of human neurons, through structured-most likely-as a mouse's brain would be. What kind of creature would this be? What degree of human-ness would this impart on the mouse?

The most unfortunate aspect of this article is that it addresses these experiments only through the lens of human ethics. Beyond how all of this is offensive to our own sense of dignity and morality, there is the question of how offensive this is to the dignity of the animals the experiment is being performed on. Most people are willing to accept that some measure of pain and suffering must be inflicted upon animals for the sake of human progress, and human life. But are these people aware of, and willing to accept, mice with human brains? Animals with human organs that can be harvested for transplant? Animals that could possess human consciousness? At what point is it a violation of our own ethical standards concerning animal experimentation to inflict not only pain and suffering on animals, but human intelligence and emotion?

This is certainly an issue that needs to be explored in greater detail, especially by everyday laymen such as ourselves, who ultimately decide what our society's standards are. Read the article, do some research, and see what you think.

6 comments:

Nat-Wu said...

I'll have to think about it some more, but it grabs a gut reaction of "That's wrong." I would expect that to be the normal reaction from people.

Alexander Wolfe said...

That's a good question. I was planning on doing another post going into more detail on my personal feelings on the matter, but I think I'll confine that to the discussion, then see if it's worth doing another post. The article goes into your point somewhat, that the concern may be that there is a blurring of the lines of distinctiveness that we feel comfortable drawing between various species. I do think the reason we do that is because we have a lot of trouble with the idea that something can be "less" human then a naturally-born person, or "more" human then a naturally born animal. Of course we're confronted with this issue everyday, which is perhaps why some of us are troubled by people who are mentally defective in some way that implies they have less then basic human understanding or consciousness. Of course the natural world cares not about our need for boundaries, as it is undeniable that biologically we either can now or will be able to create creatures with more and more human features(such ideas have been explored in fiction as it is.) The problem of course is, how do defeat a rational argument for such modifications when your counter-argument is based only on the human desire to catagorize? But I for one am not troubled by the idea of animals with human organs(except perhaps in their uses to us, but that's an animal rights issue.) I'm troubled more by the idea of creatures being made that have "more" consciousness then they naturally would have. Right now it's easy enough to draw a bright line; humans that are profoundly retarded have no fewer rights then fully-able humans. But, what line do we draw when we can create animals that have more consciousness then retarded humans? I think the key trigger is when you beging to find that consciousness can be created in animals, and I think that such a thing should not be done in any way, shape, or form, because we cannot be trusted to constrain our own desire to use those animals as we see fit despite the fact that they may otherwise meet what we consider a standard of being "human." If it looks like a lab rat, can we be trusted not to treat it like a lab rat, even if it has something approaching a human's understanding of it's own existence? I know that my argument implies that we should also have different standards for higher-level animals like apes even now, without modification. I have no problem with that, because I happen to believe that anyway.

adam said...

Well, I think the ethical questions are thus:

1) Should animals be experimented on this way, and if so, what extent?

2) Should scientists be allowed to do some much genetic engineering that they effectively change a creature so much that can no longer be considered of the same species? Why or why not?

If I'm not mistaken, we sometimes use animal organs or blood/plasma for humans. It's doubtful many have a problem with this. However, when we get into radically altering a being (say when we've replaced 50 percent or more of its genes) to where it is basically something new that opens up a whole new can or worms...

Alexander Wolfe said...

I agree with the possibility that full human consciousness might never be imparted by genetic alteration. But I think science could confer more consciousness upon animals then they "naturally" possess. I am very uncomfortable with the idea of animals being given higher levels of consciousness period, but especially to be more aware of pain and suffering as a result of experimentation. But, I am, on an irrational level, concerned about just the combining of animal traits in one creature. Though it's difficult to rationalize that feeling, I think the fact that many people probably feel the same way is reason enough for the purpose of the research to be pretty compelling, if it should be done at all.

Seamus said...

I think I'm most disturbed by the ideas of mixed reproduction. A human fetus conceived by mice with human genitalia? I find that repulsive in every sense of the term. Are we coming to a day when a girl can say "Mommy I want a new kitten" and the girl goes to the geneticist to be injected with a cat fetus and 3 weeks later births her own baby kitten? Humans conceiving animals is thoroughly disgusting in my mind and it seems pretty much the same with animals conceiving humans. Are we going to create farms of cattle that do nothing but squirt out human babies so that women no longer have to endure childbirth? Are we going to breed animals with human penises or vaginas and sell them as living sex toys?

I'd have to think on this more to really discuss the ideas of animal harvested human transplant organs...but I already find it far less disturbing than animal/human sex and reproduction. I find it hard to draw distinct lines, but this strikes me as inherently evil and sinful against God.

Alexander Wolfe said...

I have to say I had not considered the truly revolting possibility that animals could be used for human sexual purposes, or solely procreative purposes. I think that possiblity lies well in the future(though not so far as I would think, at least after reading this article.) I think that goes well beyond the "yuck" factor that Kass talks about; I imagine almost no one would advocate such behavior. But can I say the same about future Americans? I honestly don't know. We're almost into the realm of science fiction here, but if this bio-technology is in fact as flexible and powerful as we imagine, how long before we are capable of such modifications?