And now from the theater of the totally WTF.
<blockquote>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1555639/Chimera-embryos-have-right-to-life%2C-say-bishops.html
Chimera embryos have right to life, say bishops
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
Last Updated: 10:40PM BST 19/04/2008 | Comments 61 | Have Your Say
* Embryonic stem cells explained
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/01/nembryo101.xml
Human-animal hybrid embryos conceived in the laboratory -
so-called ?chimeras? - should be regarded as human and their mothers
should
be allowed to give birth to them, the Roman Catholic Church said
yesterday.
Under draft Government legislation to be debated by Parliament later this
year, scientists will be given permission for the first time to create
such
embryos for research as long as they destroy them within two weeks.
But the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, in a submission to the
Parliamentary joint committee scrutinising the draft legislation, said
that
the genetic mothers of ?chimeras? should be able to raise them as their
own
children if they wished.
The bishops said that they did not see why these ?interspecies? embryos
should be treated any differently than others.
The wide-ranging draft Human Tissue and Embryo Bill, which aims to
overhaul
the laws on fertility treatment, will include sections on test tube
babies,
embryo research and abortion. Ministers say that the creation of
animal-human embryos - created by injecting animal cells or DNA into human
embryos or human cells into animal eggs - will be heavily regulated.
They insist that it will be against the law to implant ?chimeras? - named
after the mythical creature that was half man and half animal - into a
woman?s womb.
The bishops, who believe that life begins at conception, said that they
opposed the creation of any embryo solely for research, but they were also
anxious to limit the destruction of such life once it had been brought
into
existence.
In their submission to the committee, they said: ?At the very least,
embryos
with a preponderance of human genes should be assumed to be embryonic
human
beings, and should be treated accordingly.
?In particular, it should not be a crime to transfer them, or other human
embryos, to the body of the woman providing the ovum, in cases where a
human ovum has been used to create them.
?Such a woman is the genetic mother, or partial mother, of the embryo;
should she have a change of heart and wish to carry her child to term, she
should not be prevented from doing so.?
The draft Bill will also allow the screening of embryos for genetic or
chromosomal abnormalities that might lead to serious medical conditions,
disabilities, or miscarriage. It will permit doctors to check whether an
embryo could provide a suitable tissue match for a sibling suffering from
a
life-threatening illness.
The Bill would abolish the requirement for fertility clinics to consider
the
need for a father when deciding on treatment. This means clinics will no
longer be able to deny treatment to lesbians and single mothers.
The Catholic bishops said that most of the procedures covered by the
Bill ?should not be licensed under any circumstances?, principally on the
grounds that they violate human rights.
</blockquote>
--
"It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the
masses
or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not
change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."
Giordano Bruno
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