[1]WASHINGTON (BP)–Sen. Sam Brownback, R.-Kan., has introduced legislation to prohibit the creation of human-animal hybrids.
If enacted, the Human-animal Hybrid Prohibition Act, S. 1435, would bar the creation of beings made from the genetic material of both people and animals. Without a ban, such hybrids could be created for research purposes in laboratories.
A British government agency has approved the creation of hybrids for research in that country.
“This legislation works to ensure that our society recognizes the dignity and sacredness of human life,” Brownback said in a written statement. “Creating human-animal hybrids, which permanently alter the genetic makeup of an organism, will challenge the very definition of what it means to be human and is a violation of human dignity and a grave injustice.
“Tampering with the human germ-line could be the equivalent of setting a time-bomb that might detonate many generations down the line; but once it is set, there is no reversing course,” Brownback warned in the July 9 statement.
The bill has 20 cosponsors, with Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana the lone Democrat.
[2] Brownback and Landrieu have sought to gain passage of a comprehensive ban on human cloning in recent years but have been unsuccessful.
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Compiled by Baptist Press Washington bureau chief Tom Strode.