Disturbing: Almost Human Lab Animals

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie...animals with near-human brain cells and organs. Here's the line in the article I personally found most bizarre, and telling of our increasingly shaky doministic view of the animal world:

"Now Weissman says he is thinking about making chimeric mice whose brains are 100 percent human. He proposes keeping tabs on the mice as they develop. If the brains look as if they are taking on a distinctly human architecture -- a development that could hint at a glimmer of humanness -- they could be killed, he said. If they look as if they are organizing themselves in a mouse brain architecture, they could be used for research."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63731-2004Nov19.html

 

I didn't read the article because it's one of those dealies where you have to register or whatever, but I'm reminded of this old quote:

You'd think researchers would be of a more scientific mind. Their ethics often seem to be based on coin flipping or maybe a magic 8 ball.