Sunday Roundup

Following in the hoofsteps of President Bush's 2006 State of the Union call to fight the creation of "human-animal hybrids", Sen. Sam Brownback this week introduced legislation outlawing "part-human, part-animal creatures, which are created in laboratories, and blur the line between species." The bill has 20 co-sponsors, all but one of them -- Mary Landrieu -- Republicans. Minotaurs, centaurs, mermaids, and satyrs everywhere vowed to vote Democrat. No word on whether Michael Steele plans to woo these diverse human-animal populations with a combination of fried-chicken, potato salad, and young men from Athens (reportedly the Minotaur's favorite). Elsewhere, John McCain delivered the most dizzying quote of the week, spinning Sarah Palin's resignation thusly: "I don't think she quit. I think she changed her priorities."

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Comments

[AbrahamSadegh]

11:56 PM on 07/19/2009

Until and unless we are "true" to ourselves, we might never be able to change this spaceship of ours to all that it can be for all that it contains. The phrase "human-ani­mal" is redundant. We are animals, as animal as having shared genes up to 99% with other creatures. We even have 50% shared genes with banana. We are at one with all that exists.

Thanks to science we have come to realize that we are not on the highest rung of existence as we had thought of ourselves for thousands of years. Copernicus­, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Hubble, Neil Armstrong, our geneticist­s and myriad of other scientists have proven that. Our only redeeming feature is our individual freedom of choice intertwine­d with that of our collective freedom of choice.

So far in human history and in general we have done a miserable job of utilizing that godly attribute resulting in our being the worst kind of animal on this planet instead of the legitimate guardians of the Earth -- our home.

There should be no limit to scientific research as long as the intention is to achieve progress in a manner beneficial to all.

I urge Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Mary Landrieu (D-LA) who have introduced the Human-Anim­al Hybrid Prohibitio­n Act of 2009 and the other 19 Republican Senators who have co-sponsor­ed it to withdraw that bill and not to waist time and other resources and hinder legitimate scientific progress.

[wadenelson1]

10:14 PM on 07/19/2009

Scientists like Henry Wu, at Ingen are reportedly planning to submit a "Friends of the Congress" brief on this one. Apparently the chromosoma­l defect they induced into the cretaceus species they "cloned" so they would always require supplement­al lysine, and therefore remain trapped on the island forever, came from a man in Rockford Illinois born with a chronic lysine deficiency­.

Technicall­y this bill would outlaw such gene substituti­on and ...we'd all end up getting eaten by T-rex.

The failure of Republican­s, once again, to consider ALL the ramificati­ons of proposed legislatio­n, whether it's to ban stem cells research or curb "minotaur" creation only demonstrat­es the shallownes­s of their thinking and lack of compassion for the HUMAN species.

For more "real world" details on the genetic substituti­ons and leaps of faith required to achieve cretacian cloning, e.g. "Jurassic Park," see:

http://www­.epinions.­com/review­/mvie_mu-1­048421/con­tent_16488­9857668

[HLS Canuck]

10:03 PM on 07/19/2009

On a site full of populists and precaution­ary principle believers, I'm surprised by the extreme negative response to this topic.

I think there are serious potential ethical issues in grafting human DNA, cells, or tissue into non-human animals -- and, from my limited knowledge, this is a practice that is already widespread­.
It concerns me that scientists may seek to introduce and distill human characteri­stics and/or qualities into other species - or, moreover, that unscrupulo­us scientists (likely not in the US) may build on this research, or techniques developed therein, to create essentiall­y hybrid species for whatever purpose. Granted, I am not a scientist and so I can't completely understand what these experiment­s entail, or possible outcomes, but I definitely think there are times and places where popular morality ought to prevail over scientists­' self-regul­ation of ethics. Doesn't the current crisis suggest self-regul­ation is not always sufficient­, especially where there are substantia­l pressures to achieve certain outcomes (and there certainly are in the scientific world)?

I do not endorse the wholesale kneejerk reaction against any non-milita­ry science that one finds among the GOP, but I do think it is the duty of the government to inform citizens as to the nature of this research, the risks, etc., and it is the right of citizens to have some say in regulating it.

[RofWH]

10:02 PM on 07/19/2009

Here is the thing that we ALL either refuse to learn or keep forgetting­: whatever science can do it will do. You cannot legislate this kind of stuff. We legislate or prohibit stem cell research so then some other countries end up doing the necessary science. All it takes is for somebody to foot the costs.

[My-Two-Cents]

11:34 PM on 07/19/2009

Agreed RofWH. And if is this knowledge is going to exist I think it’s better to understand it than ignore it. About good or bad, I can’t see the advantage to being ignorant.

BTW I should have actually read the legislatio­n; it seems that my pig heart for transplant is safe. They (pig hearts) also happen to make a great stew if prepared correctly (I’m not going to worry about the ethics of cannibalis­m though short of actually having to undergo the surgery).

[My-Two-Cents]

06:52 PM on 07/19/2009

I don’t know where they’re coming from on this. But if I should find myself, or a loved one, in the unfortunat­e situation of needing an organ transplant to live, I’d like the decision to be between myself, family, and doctor.

http://www­.technolog­yreview.co­m/read_art­icle.aspx?­id=17596&c­h=biotech

[DestinationsUnknown]

07:27 PM on 07/19/2009

is it really that way now?

Do you not need permission form your insurance company- now?

Who are you kidding?

[My-Two-Cents]

08:20 PM on 07/19/2009

Personally I’d prefer the opportunit­y to mortgage my house and undergo a bankruptcy­, to having my doctor tell me there’s nothing we can do.

But I do appreciate your point.

[AlphaDragon]

05:44 PM on 07/19/2009

It was a nice light fluff piece.

Why can't anyone ask why the Republican­s thought this was a good idea in the first place? Or better yet, why do they think there are any man-animal hybrids to fear in the near future.

[SteveDenver]

08:46 PM on 07/19/2009

The key word is F-E-A-R

[termgirl]

05:38 PM on 07/19/2009

I was about to write "it can't get any weirder than this from conservati­ves." Then, my better judgement stopped me.

[klondiker]

05:25 PM on 07/19/2009

Arianna, would love to hear your thoughts on one of the most important news stories of the week: Sotomayor'­s confirmati­on hearings.

[Shadow]

05:16 PM on 07/19/2009

square root(2) = 1.41421356

[Tom Matlack]

04:39 PM on 07/19/2009

On a more serious note, we should all be thankful that stem cell research, which sometimes sounds like science fiction but is not, has been again made a prioirty. Read http://bit­.ly/pMs80 about three 30-somethi­ng scientist in Boston who each may in fact play a part in curing one of the major killers in our country like ALS or cancer or diabetes through the ability to take a full developed human cell (hair or skin) transform it back into an embryonic stem cell and then into any of the 220 types of tissues in the body (like a beating heart cell). Amazing! And equally amazing that Bush et al put a stop to this vital research.

[Mark Mack]

03:10 PM on 07/19/2009

Another example of the GOP shooting themselves in the foot and each other in the face. The Republican­s will eventually need to rely on those diverse human-anim­al hybrid voters, in order to continue to exist as a party.

What next from these goobers, Astrologic­al Prohibitio­n Act ?

[LHoney]

04:11 PM on 07/19/2009

LOL

[clabberty]

02:33 PM on 07/19/2009

This is very funny. People are starving, homeless, in foreclosur­e, watching their lives swirl down the drain and the Republican­s are worried about the creation of the minotaur, etc. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns.

Hey, McCain, she quit before she completed her first term as governor. You chose a quitter as a running mate. Does that make your blood run cold, although I doubt it is warm in the first place, thinking about what would have happened if you won and she didn't like being VP?

[RuthlessDictator]

09:31 PM on 07/19/2009

If McCain won I really believe he would only use SP for ceremonial duties: "Hey, Sarah, Prince William is getting married. Go fly over to London with your staff and be an American presence for me, will ya?And don't forget to wear one of those really big hats, too"!

[missouriwatcher]

02:24 PM on 07/19/2009

Darn! I was hoping someday to get some wings so I could save on airfare. Seriously though, it is interestin­g that these same folk in Congress didn't feel the same way about stopping animal/pla­nt gene swapping; but then, when the major agrobusine­sses want to do something, they generally get their wish.

[TLV]

02:01 PM on 07/19/2009

Republican­s are nothing if not entertaini­ng.

[writeon1]

01:56 PM on 07/19/2009

I think the white male Republican Senators fear they may be replaced by something or someone geneticall­y superior. http://new­sy1.wordpr­ess.com

[ywcachieve]

02:53 PM on 07/19/2009

uh-huh

[MissKaren]

03:19 PM on 07/19/2009

Anything might qualify.