UK Approves Use of Animal-human Embryos for Research | The Institute for Creation Research

UK Approves Use of Animal-human Embryos for Research

British lawmakers have formally approved the use of animal-human hybrids for stem-cell research after months of bitter debate between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a group of secular scientists against religious leaders and pro-life advocates.

The House of Commons’ 355-129 vote will allow the creation and destruction of hybrid embryos. Brown and the measure’s supporters believe the research will lead to new treatments for disorders such as Parkinson’s. The House also clarified laws regarding the manufacture of “savior siblings,” embryos that are selectively screened so that the resulting babies can provide transplant material for ailing older brothers and sisters.

Under the measure’s protection, researchers are allowed to inject empty cow or rabbit eggs with human DNA and apply a burst of electricity to trigger the regular cell division that forms embryos. They then hope to harvest stem cells, after which the embryos will be destroyed. “Scientists say the embryos would not be allowed to develop for more than 14 days and are intended to address the shortage of human eggs available for stem-cell research,” the Associated Press reported.1

Aside from the obvious moral and bioethical issues, the decision presents an evolutionary paradox. Recently, scientists reexamined a set of vials from the failed Miller-Urey experiment, which attempted to recreate the supposed processes that first brought organic life out of a handful of non-living chemicals.2 The researchers were surprised to find that the 50-year-old vials contained amino acids that had not originally been documented.3

The Miller-Urey experiment, as well as similar ones conducted over the decades, followed the same theoretical reasoning as that penned by Charles Darwin in a letter in which he proposed that life forms grew miraculously out of a “warm little pond, with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, lights, heat, electricity, etc.”4 In other words, non-living chemicals somehow produced favorable conditions to jumpstart life that began as simple cellular organisms and then gradually evolved into the amazing variety of living creatures we observe today.

If this is the case, then Britain’s Parliament has voted to create and destroy the very beginnings of life to which Darwin devoted a great deal of his energy and time to understand. If, millions of year ago, life was in the single cells supposedly created by a bolt of lightning in a puddle of ammonia and other materials, then life is also in the cells of the embryos—hybrid or not—slated for destruction in the name of “science.”

And this is yet another reason why the evolution story will never make sense. The theory of evolution gives no value to life, since it so easily allows for the wanton destruction of it. At the same time, it cannot escape the unexplained development of the simple cellular organisms that its purveyors have professed we all come from. Millions of years ago, 50 years ago, or even now, evolution is still a theory in conflict with itself at the terrible cost of human life.

References

  1. U.K. Approves Animal-Human Embryo Testing. Associated Press, October 23, 2008.
  2. Chang, K. From Old Vials, New Hints on Origin of Life. The New York Times. Posted on NYTimes.com October 16, 2008, accessed October 21, 2008.
  3. For more information on this discovery, see Thomas, B. Origin of Life Research Still Dead. ICR News. Posted on icr.org October 27, 2008.
  4. Darwin, C. Written in 1871, published in 1887. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter, vol. 3. London: John Murray, 18.

* Ms. Dao is Assistant Editor.

Article posted on October 30, 2008.

The Latest
CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Searching for Truth Across the Globe | Creation.Live Podcast:...
How can we bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of creation to others outside our small spheres of influence?   Host...

NEWS
Marine Mammals: Designed for Deep Diving
While you’re reading this, hold your breath. What is now happening is your blood is delivering the last of oxygenated blood cells to your tissues...

CREATION PODCAST
Humanity's Demise at the Hands of Genetic Entropy | The Creation...
Welcome to the fourth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
''Inside-Out'' Fossil is Amazingly Preserved
It is widely known that vast numbers of fossils—vertebrate and invertebrate—have been discovered incredibly well-preserved.1,2...

NEWS
The Resurrection and the Origin of Life
At Easter time we focus on the cardinal Christian doctrine of the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection, Christianity is a sham. The truth that Jesus...

NEWS
Is an Ancient Extinct Tree-Dweller Our Relative?
Human evolution has always been hazy with seemingly as many attempted explanations for how we evolved from animals as there are paleoanthropologists. Evolutionists...

NEWS
The Return of the Dire Wolf?
There’s been much recent excitement about the birth of three dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) puppies by a Dallas-based biotech company: Colossal Bioscience....

CREATION PODCAST
Cracks in the Layers: Lake Suigetsu and the Old Earth Illusion...
Welcome to the third episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
Fish Fossil Vomit
A rather unsavory news story recently appeared regarding fossilized vomit. Although it’s hardly dinner table conversation, it nonetheless supports...

NEWS
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...