The field of genetics are exploding all over the headlines.

From Michael Cummins:

Some time ago, Yorktown Technologies created a new species of fish in the laboratory, a type of fluorescent Zebrafish. Their ultimate goal is to create a variant that glows only in the presence of toxins and pollutants to help identify spills, leaks and the like. In the mean time, they are selling their fluorescent fish to the public, calling it Glo-Fish. The proceeds go to the lab that is nearly finished with the toxin-detecting fish.

The fish will benefit mankind. Have we gone too far? How far is too far? Where is the ethical line in the sand?

From Michael Cummins:

Recently it was revealed that a scientist at the University of Florida has used rat brain cells to create a kind of a brain-in-a-petri dish. They have used this rudimentary brain, or "neural network", to control an F-22 simulator, hoping that such biological neural networks can help mankind perform complicated machinery, such as planes, prosthetic limbs, etc. Certainly, it will help us to better understand how our own brains work.

The brain-in-a-dish can benefit mankind. Have we gone too far? How far is too far? Where is the ethical line in the sand?

From Rick Weiss of the Washington Post:

In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their veins.

In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely human.

In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells firing inside their skulls.

These are not outcasts from "The Island of Dr. Moreau," the 1896 novel by H.G. Wells in which a rogue doctor develops creatures that are part animal and part human. They are real creations of real scientists, stretching the boundaries of stem cell research.

Biologists call these hybrid animals chimeras, after the mythical Greek creature with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail. They are the products of experiments in which human stem cells were added to developing animal fetuses.

Being able to harvest human organs from animals designed to grow them will benefit mankind. Have we gone too far? How far is too far? Where is the ethical line in the sand?

Posted by Michael at November 20, 2004 11:02 AM