Middle America's Worldview

I saw a tickler last night speaking of placing human genes in a empty animal embryo. The tickler mentioned the hybrid would be 99.9% human and .1% animal. The scientist would be required to destroy the embryo before 14 days and it is banned to be placed in a womb.

I thought 2 things when I seen it (after my wow).

1)Why 14 days?
2)Have we really gone this far?


Seems the Government previously agreed stem cell embryo's have a 14-day limit. I guess you have to start/end somewhere.

Legislative references to the 14-day rule cite ethics committee reports. The most influential of these reports were sponsored by the U.S. government (1979, 1994, 1999, 2004), Britain (1984), Australia (1984), Canada (1994), California (2002), the leading U.S. IVF medical association (the American Fertility Society, 1986 and 1990), and a leading U.S. biotech company (Advanced Cell Technology, 2000). If you read these reports, the first thing you'll notice is that they refer to each other. We've agreed to the line because we've agreed to it—and could just as easily move it. The next thing you'll see is that many of them admit that the date is "arbitrary." The British report, from which others copied the rule, concedes that "biologically there is no one single identifiable stage in the development of the embryo beyond which the in vitro embryo should not be kept alive."

A fact of prenatal development.

Pregnancy begins at conception, the time at which the male sperm and the female ovum unite. What results is called a zygote, a one-celled biological entity, a stage in human development through which each of us has passed (just as we have passed through infancy, childhood, and adolescence).

It is a misnomer to refer to this entity as a "fertilized ovum." For both ovum and sperm, which are genetically each a part of its owner (mother and father, respectively), cease to exist at the moment of conception. There is no doubt that the zygote is biologically alive. It fulfills the four criteria needed to establish biological life:

• (1) metabolism,
  
• (2) growth,
  
• (3) reaction to stimuli, and
  
• (4) reproduction.
  

Second fact of prenatal development

Second, not only is the conceptus human insofar as being caused by humans, it is a unique human individual, just as each of us is. Resulting from the union of the female ovum (which contains 23 chromosomes) and the male sperm (which contains 23 chromosomes), the conceptus is a new -- although tiny -- individual.

It has its own unique genetic code (with forty-six chromosomes), which is neither the mother's nor the father's. From this point until death, no new genetic information is needed to make the unborn entity a unique individual human.

Quote

This is why French geneticist Jermoe L. LeJeune, while testifying before a Senate Subcommittee, asserted:

To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion. The human nature of the human being from conception to old age is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence.

It is vital that you -- the reader -- understand that...

You did not come from a zygote.

You once were a zygote.

You did not come from an embryo.

You once were an embryo.

You did not come from a fetus.

You once were a fetus.

You did not come from an adolescent.

You once were an adolescent.

But have we gone so far as mixing DNA to create hybrids? We have attempted pig heart transplants in the past.

I recall a bible prophecy stating "37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,39 "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. "

It is found in the book of Matthew chapter 24. The coming of the Son of Man refers to the rapture of the true church. Noah was found to be righteous with God. He with his immediate family were saved by the Ark. We recall the story from Sunday school.

The Noah story is found in Genesis chapter 6. The chapter makes reference to 'sons of God' taking the 'daughters of men' as wives, creating offspring referred to as 'giants' and men of name.

Some scholars believe Noah not only found grace, but was also pure in genetics. These sons of God and daughters of men had created a different gene pool.

This thought came to me as I watched the tickler, referring to 99.9% human and 1% animal. With the stem cell research, we could easily begin to change our gene pool.

You can view some videos of embryos here.