Slashdot Mirror
OH Senate Passes Bill Banning Human-Animal Hybrids
An anonymous reader writes "The sci-fi movie Splice seems to have scared the Ohio's State Senator Steve Buehrer. The Ohio Senate has passed Sen. Buehrer's bill banning 'the creation, transportation, or receipt of a human-animal hybrid, the transfer of a nonhuman embryo into a human womb, and the transfer of a human embryo into a nonhuman womb.' So much for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
Perhaps he should be watching V from the early 1980's and then he would have reason to be scared.
No pig heart valves for you then when your own stops working.
Having a pig's valve in the heart count as a hybrid? What about anyone born elsewhere who's had animal genome spliced into them to give advantageous traits in the future?
Silly..
What about the use of animals to grow human organs such as ears, hearts, limbs... to replace those lost due to accident, or birth defect?
also, captcha win: "extras"
Why was taxpayer money spent making and passing such a bill?
Because when you can't tackle real problems, you have to be able to point out how you're "defending traditional values", no matter how absurd the legislation.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Because it presents the appearance of doing something to "protect the children" while not actually having to -implement- anything. It's warm conservative-feel-good legislatural mush.
So much for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The ninja turtles were mutants, not hybrids!
The law does not define what is human, other then by the generic description of "homo sapiens" How about a fully artificial set of chromosomes from a computer database created in a lab? Without a VERY clear definition of human, that we currently don't have, these type of laws are useless. Is someone with downs syndrome human? they have a extra whole chromosome. How about someone who gets infected with a retrovirus. They now have a mix of human and virus DNA. How about people who are XXY, XXYY, XYY or other sexual genetic abnormalities? We share a LARGE portion of our DNA with everything from monkeys, dogs, mice, insects and even flowers. First define "Human", and by then many humans will be mixed with "animals" to make the laws worthless and conflict with the bill of rights along with many other laws. People, mostly the very religious, just don't want the understanding that "human" is just another kind of specialized animal.
I guess it just goes to show how quickly a field is progressing when 2/3 of the comments on a slashdot story ignorantly assume it's still science fiction and couldn't possibly require legislation. However, I hope this is defined very carefully not to preclude important medical research. Growing a human ear on a mouse, for example, might seem like a gross waste of time, but perhaps not if you're a soldier whose soft tissue was burned off by an IED. (That image is from way back in 1997 BTW).
While it is probably not yet possible to create a breeding animal-human hybrid, the idea should be considered seriously. There are numerous implications for society as a whole. Would such a person be treated a sub-class without rights? What purpose would they have?
Science fiction writers, as is the norm, have dealt with such issues for many years, exploring various outcomes, both good and bad.
I suggest for your edification:
Human/animal hybrids created for combat - what happens after the war?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moreau_series
Gene-modified humans designed for work in zero gravity (four arms and no legs)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosigan_Saga#Falling_Free
Gene-modified humans designed to work on very high gravity worlds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Pirates_Series
Yes, the stories are science fiction. However, science fiction isn't just test tubes and electronics. It is the interaction of people in a futuristic environment. Consider the fact that 30 years ago, no one thought it would be possible to create a replicating cell from scratch. 60 years ago, the double helix of DNA was unknown.
What is science fiction now, might be reality next week.
the law seems to forbid human hybrids with other mammals. That leaves a huge area of potential nobel prize research for human hybrids with funguses, reptiles, invertebrates (bugs, jellyfish, worms) and plants, without even having to put out the call through seti for extraterrestrial volunteers.
this cups not half empty, it's half full!