Scientists in Japan have made a startling announcement. They say within a year they’ll be able to take a human stem cell, insert it into an animal embryo—perhaps a pig—and implant it into the animal’s womb. They say it’ll then grow into a human organ, like a kidney or heart and be harvested for a patient after it matures in the host animal, which would be slaughtered. Even if the stem cell isn’t from a human embryo, I’m still not sure what I think of this idea. Wesley Smith, whose specialty is ethics, says we’d also need clear assurances no animal virus would be transmitted to humans in the process.
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