08 December,2019 07:50 AM IST | Beijing | Agencies
Pic/State key laboratory of stem cell and reproductive biology
Beijing: Scientists have successfully created the world's first ever monkey-pig hybrid in a Chinese laboratory, a media report said. Two piglets - having monkey tissues in their hearts, liver and skin - were born in the State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology in Beijing but died within a week.
An announcement to this effect was made by Tang Hai. The experiment comes in the wake of Spanish scientist Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte's attempt to create pig-human hybrids two years ago.
Tang and his team injected genetically modified monkey cells into more than 4,000 pig embryos before these were implanted into sows, the New Scientist magazine reported.
Only two of the 10 piglets thus born were hybrids with tissues in the heart, liver, spleen, lung and skin, partly consisting of monkey cells.
Experts suspected that the failure has to do with the IVF process. Critics have now warned that the scientific development will create "disturbing" dilemmas over the ethics of human-animal hybrids.
ALSO READ
Video shows NY officer fatally shooting 13-year-old
PM Modi, President Xi likely to meet after India-China patrolling agreement
Biden 'deeply concerned' about release of documents on Israel's attack plans
Pak Hindu temple being reconstructed after 64 years
Vietnam: Army general takes charge as prez
Doctor Angel Raya, director of the Barcelona Regenerative Medicine Centre, told the Spanish daily El Pais: "What happens if the stem cells escape and form human neurons in the brain of the animal? Would it have consciousness? And what happens if these stem cells turn into sperm cells?"
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates