Human Stem Cells Injected, Grown in Monkey Embryos Ignite Ethical Questions

A new study led by a team of American and Chinese researchers has ignited a fresh ethical argument of experiments on human stem cells grown in monkey embryos.

A BBC News report said that scientists injected human stem cells - cells that can develop into many different body tissues - into monkeys, specifically macaque embryos.

The developing embryos were examined for up to 20 days. Other so-called 'chimeras,' or mixed-species embryos, have been produced before, with human cells embedded into pig and sheep embryos.

The team of experts was led by the US-based Salk Institute's Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte who helped make the first-ever human-pig hybrid in 2017.

This, another BBC news report said, is the first proof chimeras that's named after the mythological lion-goat-serpent monster, can be made through the combination of materials from animals and humans.

ALSO READ: Mouse-Human Hybrids Chimeras in Development to Serve as Accurate Models for Research

Answer to Shortage in Transplantable Organs

The professor said that their research could pave the way in dealing with the "severe shortage in transplantable organs" and help understand further the early development of humans, progression of the disease, and aging.

These chimeric methods could be really quite helpful for the advancement of biomedical research not only at life's very earliest stage but the latest stage of life, as well.

He continued explaining that their research published in the Cell journal entitled "Chimeric contribution of human extended pluripotent stem cells to monkey embryos ex vivo," had met the present ethical and legal standards. Eventually, he added, they conduct such studies for further insight and improvement of human health.

Ethical Issues

Despite the promising result, some scientists have raised concerns though about the experiment, contending that while the embryos in this circumstance were destroyed at 20 days, others could attempt to take the work longer.

They have called for public argument over the implications of developing part human, part nonhuman chimeras.

Commenting on the study, lecturer and researcher in biomedical ethics, Dr. Anna Smajdor, at the University of East Anglia's Norwich Medical School, said it postured considerable ethical and legal challenges.

She also said that the scientists who worked on this study state that these chimeric embryos were offering new opportunities since researchers cannot conduct specific types of experiments in humans. Nevertheless, whether these embryos are human or not, Dr. Smajdor continued, is open to question.

Human- Nonhuman Chimeras

Professor Julian Savulescu, Oxford Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics director and Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford co-director said this new study is opening 'Pandora's box' to human-nonhuman chimeras."

He also said that these embryos were destroyed at up to 20 days of development, although it is only a matter of time before human-nonhuman chimeras would successfully be developed, probably, as a source of organs for humans. That, he elaborated, is one of the long-term objectives or goals of this particular study.

Meanwhile, the director of the Progress Educational Trust, Sarah Norcross said that, while considerable advances are being made in research on embryo and stem cell, which could bring equally significant benefits.

She added, there is a clear necessity for public discussion and argument or debate about both the ethical and regulatory challenges raised by some in the field.

A related report is shown on VOA News's YouTube video below: