From CCTV.com, today:
BEIJING - Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera - which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs, according to news report Monday.The sheep have 15 percent human cells and 85 percent animal cells and their evolution brings the prospect of animal organs being transplanted into humans one step closer....
But the development is likely to revive criticisms about scientists playing God, with the possibility of silent viruses, which are harmless in animals, being introduced into the human race.
Animal rights activists fear that if the cells get mixed together, they could end up with cellular fusion, creating a hybrid which would have the features and characteristics of both man and sheep....
Does this mean animal rights activists will have to become pro-life activists?
[Photo courtesy of CCTV.]
the original article explained that the state at which the stem cells were introduced to the sheep fetus curtails possibility fusion, and thus transspecies viral leaps are impossible. of course, that doesn't mean viral mutations wont occur, but we've already seen such mutations and they are unrelated to any controversial sciences. for example, the bird flu.