Scientists Propose Interspecies Cloning

The gut reaction I experienced just reading the headline was "NO, who do they think they are, Dr. Frankenstein?!?" But upon actually reading the article, it seems that the rationale behind the decision to try to pursue this method of using animal eggs along with human DNA is fairly logical, especially when many people balk at the use of human eggs to create stem cells.

All three U.K. teams aim to get around that bottleneck by taking DNA from patients sick with a disease like Alzheimer's and fuse it with cow eggs that have had all their genetic material removed. The hope is that the human DNA will trick the eggs into thinking they're pregnant, beginning development.

After about five days of growth, the cloned embryos would be destroyed and the stem cells extracted. The stem cells would be grown in their labs and the researchers could look for the onset of diseases, study their development and test experimental drugs on the cells.

When this method was first tested by a Michigan-based researcher, his actions were condemned as unethical. Yet, as long as the growth in the egg is terminated and no interspecies being is created (as these scientists promise won't happen), it seems to be a logical step away from using human eggs for experiments. Many things that the average person would find startling have been done in the name of science, and the benefits to human beings seems too great to ignore the potentiality of this method. As long as the animals used, cows in this case, are not harmed in the process of harvesting their eggs, I'm all for this.