The Island of Dr. Moreau Revisited or Do Mice have more Brains than Humans?

An excerpt from an article from the Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7681252/

Mice with human brains
In January, an informal ethics committee at Stanford University endorsed a proposal to create mice with brains nearly completely made of human brain cells. Stem cell scientist Irving Weissman said his experiment could provide unparalleled insight into how the human brain develops and how degenerative brain diseases like Parkinson’s progress.

Stanford law professor Hank Greely, who chaired the ethics committee, said the board was satisfied that the size and shape of the mouse brain would prevent the human cells from creating any traits of humanity. Just in case, Greely said, the committee recommended closely monitoring the mice’s behavior and immediately killing any that display human-like behavior.

Okay... Is anyone besides me seeing a few ethical problems with giving animals "human brains"?

We give them human stem cells so we can grow a "human-like" brain in a lab animal, a mouse or a monkey, and then we study the creature to see how certain brain diseases/abnormalities work. Hopefully scientists can then come up with a cure for these brain diseases.

But if the animal starts showing any "traits of humanity" the researcher will immediately kill the animal. We can't have another H. G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau on our hands, can we?

Heaven forbid we create a part-human, part-mouse type of creature! Think of how grossed out you were when you first watched the movie The Fly.We don’t want to build monstrosities, freaks of nature, do we?

But if an animal did show human-like behavior… Wouldn’t it understand that mankind is playing God with its existence?

We bring the poor hybrid thing into the world, and we reserve the right to take it out if its behavior in any way offends us or makes us uncomfortable with our choices. If this isn’t playing God, then what is?

And how many human cells are necessary to create another “human”? Fifty percent? Forty percent? Eighty percent? One percent? Who determines who is a “human being” and who isn’t? The courts?

Does any of this make you nervous? It should. Remember the Dred Scott case in the 1850’s… Mr. Scott wasn’t allowed to sue for his freedom from slavery since he was judged by a US court of law to be a piece of property and not a man. And property can be used, abused and discarded at will by the property owner.

By attempting to make human-hybrids and clones, is mankind trying to create a new form of slavery? I wonder.