Cardinal
Rigali calls for legislation prohibiting creation of human-animal hybrids
to be enacted
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
Cardinal Justin Rigali, as chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee
on Pro-Life Activities, has commended a proposed “Human-Animal Hybrid
Prohibition Act” introduced in both houses of Congress.
He welcomed the legislation as “an opportunity to rein in an egregious
and disturbing use of technology to undermine human dignity.”
The proposed legislation (S. 2358) was introduced in the Senate last fall
by U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback. (R-Kansas) and an identical bill (H.R. 5910)
was introduced in the House on April 24 by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.).
“I commend Senator Brown-back and Representative Smith for their
leadership in seeking to prohibit the creation of human-animal hybrids,”
the Cardinal said.
“While this subject may seem like science fiction to many, the threat
is all too real,” he added. “The United Kingdom is preparing
to authorize the production of cloned human embryos using human DNA and
animal eggs, setting the stage for the creation of embryos that are half-human
and half-animal. Researchers in New York have boasted of implanting ‘mouse-human
chimeras’ into female mice, and California scientists say they many
produce a mouse whose brain is made up entirely of human cells.
“The alleged promise of embryonic stem cells has already been used
in attempts to justify destroying human embryos and even to justify creating
them solely for destructive research,” Cardinal Rigali added. “Now
this same utilitarian argument is being used to justify an especially
troubling form of human manipulation, to create partly human creatures
as mere objects for research or commercial use.”
Cardinal Rigali encouraged members of all parties to co-sponsor the legislation
prohibiting creation of human-animal hybrids, known as “chimeras,”
and bring it to swift approval in Congress.
“Nothing more radically undermines human dignity than a project
that can make it impossible to determine what is human and what is not,”
he said.
“Any initiative which will provide a responsible use of the power
of science is something our Center will see as positive,” commented
Father Tad Pacholczyk, director of education for the Philadelphia-based
National Catholic Bioethics Center. Putting a human nucleus in an animal
embryo is not a legitimate use of science, he said, terming it “creating
humans just to strip mine them for their stem cells.”
In any case, Father Pacholczyk suggested, the proposed bill should have
strong public support. “It’s a very reasonable bill and I
think most Americans would agree with it,” he said.
“Cardinal Rigali’s statement reiterates the heinous possibilities
that modern science presents to us,” commented Susan Vadas, Director
of the archdiocesan Respect Life Office. “It is inconceivable to
imagine how man can dare to take such liberties with the precious gift
of life that God gives us.
“Hopefully, the Cardinal’s message will help to expedite the
passage of this legislation and maintain an ethical and humane check on
the extent to which science can take us in the name of ‘progress,’”
she said.
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.