British bid to create part cow, part human embryos
by Moom Tuesday November 07, 2006 at 12:43 PM

The proposal has been questioned by some ethics campaigners, who claim it could blur the line between animals and humans.

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Scientists in Britain have applied for permission to create part cow, part human embryos to be used in research on treating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

They hope the procedure will provide a plentiful supply of stem cells, involving transferring nuclei containing DNA from human cells to cows' eggs.

At present, embryonic stem cells have to be obtained from unwanted early stage human embryos left over from in-vitro fertilisation treatment.

The proposal has been questioned by some ethics campaigners, who claim it could blur the line between animals and humans.

The application had been submitted to Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the body regulating embryo research, by the North-East England Stem Cell Institute, run by the universities of Durham and Newcastle, northern England.

Newcastle University lecturer Lyle Armstrong is leading the team and says the work is necessary in order to take stem cell research to the next stage.

But Scottish Council on Human Bioethics spokesperson Calum MacKellar disagrees.

"In this kind of procedure, you are mixing at a very intimate level [of] animal eggs and human chromosomes and you may begin to undermine the whole distinction between animals and humans," he said.

A decision on whether to grant permission for the work is expected within the next few months.

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