Researchers integrate human stem cells into monkey embryo | DW | 16.04.2021

Human Animal Chimeras coming to a country near you ..

(Article 04 16 21) Scientists in California have taken a step that's sure to jump-start a lot of discussions:

They created a human-monkey embryo that survived for “three weeks.” Chimeras in mammals have been made since the 1970s to study early developmental processes but back then, scientists used rodents, and the interspecies organisms usually didn't survive for very long. Mixing human stem cells with animals' genetic material is a >>significant intervention into nature's course<< but the researchers say they have good reason for it.
“As we are unable to conduct certain types of experiments in humans, it is essential that we have *better models* to more accurately study and understand human biology and disease,” Scientist Izpisu Belmonte explained.

That still leaves ethical questions. In the current study, the embryos didn't survive past 20 days. But what happens when science eventually gets to the point that chimeras like these turn into >>fully formed beings?

"This research opens Pandora's box to human-nonhuman chimeras," said Julian Savulescu, Director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. To him, the key ethical question relates to what kind of creatures these chimeras would be ― to what extent can they think and feel? “‘What is the moral status of these novel creatures? Before any experiments are performed on live-born chimeras, or their organs extracted, it is essential that their mental capacities and lives are properly assessed,” Savulescu wrote.

Scientists would find it impossible to not allow a Chimera to live and grow. Would the part-human being have a soul? Would they be considered a citizen?