I’d like my kidney now, please (Image: Laura Stevens/Plainpicture)
Editorial: “Human-animal hybrids mean boom time for bioethicists“
THE chimeras of ancient mythology were monstrous combinations of lions, snakes and goats. We may soon have something almost as startling. A team of biologists is paving the way for growing entirely human organs inside pigs. The aim is to duplicate inside a host animal the kidney, say, of someone needing an organ transplant.
Experiments building up to such organ farms have been carried out in pigs, mice and rats in Japan. So far, regulations there have made the next stage impossible…
