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Mice carrying human genes are ethically acceptable, but German scientists who want to make transgenic monkeys with human genes should get permission from a national ethics panel, according to recommendations issued today by the German Ethics Council. The report, which addresses the ethics of human-animal mixtures, recommends that certain practices be forbidden: introducing animal material into the human germline, experiments that would lead to the development of human sperm or eggs in an animal, and implanting an animal embryo into a human.
Putting human brain cells into animals should receive special attention from the ethics panel that approves animal experiments, the report says. And scientists should look for better ways to measure the effects of such cells on the recipients' behavior.
German Basic Law, which functions as the country's constitution, states that "human dignity is inviolable," and the report delves deeply into the philosophical issues that arise when experiments mix animal and human cells or genes: How to define what is human, what counts as "animal," and whether mixing the two violates the dignity of either one. The report's...
Putting human brain cells into animals should receive special attention from the ethics panel that approves animal experiments, the report says. And scientists should look for better ways to measure the effects of such cells on the recipients' behavior.
German Basic Law, which functions as the country's constitution, states that "human dignity is inviolable," and the report delves deeply into the philosophical issues that arise when experiments mix animal and human cells or genes: How to define what is human, what counts as "animal," and whether mixing the two violates the dignity of either one. The report's...