Science and technology will always go too far, oftentimes even beyond what we can comprehend in these times. But it is up to us humans to stand firm on our morals and weigh the implications of what science and technology can bring or do for us.

StemcellsJust recently, while I was watching BBC News, a clip on embryo hybrid was shown. The hybrid process involves emptying an animal egg and filling it with human cells. The resulting embryo is allowed to develop for 14 days — during which time scientists harvest the stem cells — before being destroyed. Scientists hope working with those stem cells will lead to treatments for serious conditions like motor neuron disease, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s, and they say using hybrids overcomes the shortage of human embryos. (More from CNN News International.)

That research and procedure for harvesting stem cells (that is, embryonic stem cells, that can be grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture and are used as cures for debilitating disorders) was passed into law in the British Parliament early this week.

Cross-mixing species between humans and animals is man’s most outrageous act (to equal that of the Holocaust) and the Brits turned it into law. Opponents of the research / new law who have lobbied less fervently, methinks, have to develop other ways to counter that new law.

I significantly oppose the human-animal embryo hybrid. But will British Prime Minister Gordon Brown really use it on his child, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis or was he in it for the 15 seconds needed to push him for the elections? It’s a lost cause, the hybrid, therefore, he lost it with the voting Brits.

*The title is an allusion to the book by Dr. Arturo B. Rotor.