Abstract
It may soon be possible to generate human tissues and organs inside of part-human chimeras via a technique known as interspecies blastocyst complementation. Using Australian legislation as a case study, we show why this technique of creating part-human chimeras falls within the gaps of existing legislation. We give an overview of the key ethical issues raised by part-human chimera research, and we describe how well these issues are met by a range of possible regulatory approaches. We ultimately argue that regulation of part-human chimera research should be (re)designed to balance two key aims: to facilitate ethical research involving part-human chimeras and to prevent unethical experimentation with chimeras that have an uncertain—and potentially substantial—degree of moral status.
Highlights
Human pluripotent stem cells would be introduced to the embryo to create a part-human chimera—ie a creature comprised of a mix of human and animal cells.[1]
We argue that regulation of part-human chimeras should strike a balance between two important goals: to facilitate beneficial research and to prevent unethical experimentation with chimeric animals that possess a substantial degree of moral status
14 r Rethinking the law on part-human chimeras with humanized brains might have different welfare needs to their non-chimeric counterparts, suggest that it may be appropriate to screen for deviations from species-typical norms that could be relevant to chimeric animals’ welfare, and hold that research with a significant potential to create humanized cognition or awareness should be subject to especially close scrutiny to ensure the ethical protection of animal research subjects.[60]
Summary
The Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act prohibits the creation of chimeric embryos via the introduction of animal cells into human embryos, but not via the introduction of human cells into animal embryos.[16]. ETHICS 195 (2007); Sonya Levine & Laura Grabel, The Contribution of Human/Non-human Animal Chimeras to Stem Cell Research, 24 STEM CELL RES 128 (2017) These regulations cannot fully address concerns related to part-human chimeric animals’ moral status. The first option is to prohibit the creation of any part-human chimeric embryos, regardless of whether animal cells are introduced into human embryos or vice versa This approach would straightforwardly address any ethical concerns associated with conducting such research. A fourth option is to allow the full development of chimeras with humanized brains but prohibit experimentation until after the chimera’s moral status has been determined This approach arguably strikes an ideal balance between facilitating chimera research and addressing relevant ethical concerns.
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