Chimeras are referred to as the organisms that are produced during transplantation of human stem cells into animal embryos. A new policy has been put forward that would allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund researchers who want to carry out this kind of practice. Although the purpose of the research is to study disease as well as organ transplants at a more ‘personal’ level, it also raises many ethical concerns.
Last September the NIH put a temporary ban on the funding of this kind of research as there were too many ethical concerns involved and they had no grants out for this type of the investigation. But, there has now been a new proposal put in that would allow the research to go ahead. Although animals have been used in research for many years, they have not been allowed to be used to advance regenerative medicine.
The new policy would allow experiments in which human cells are added to early-stage embryos of all animals apart from nonhuman primates. Because they are so similar to humans, these species may be added at a later stage but would require much closer scrutiny. However, the ban on the breeding of animals that could make human eggs or sperm would still stand. But, if the proposal is agreed to and the policy does go ahead, how many investors are there going to be? It is a very niche area and one that has so much controversy surrounding it that companies may be unwilling to support this type of research.
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