![]() Thus, God had to declare this living creation as a “human being.” In addition, there is a fascinating discussion in the Talmud that examines the human status of a “Golem”-a mythical organism that looked fully human but was neither born from humans nor created from human gametes. According to the Bible, Adam, having been created by God, was not born from a human being nor created from human sperm or eggs. It is interesting that the Bible and the Talmud (the Jewish book of Law) subtly address the role of human gametes and being born from a human as intrinsic definitions of a human being. These technologies are not hypothetical-ectogenesis, or development outside the natural womb, has already been shown to preserve premature lambs, and xenotransplantation biotechnologies used to produce human-pig chimeras could be applied to other animals to generate, say, a cow with a human uterus. Similarly, a human embryo created in vitro from human gametes and transplanted into an artificial placenta or genetically altered animal that contains a human uterus, would still have human status. Thus, an embryo produced using gamete-like cells obtained from human blood or human sperm or eggs produced from a genetically altered mouse would still attain both human and personhood status. The extension of this criterion would be that a child born from human gametes regardless of the source of these human cells would also be regarded as human. Second, human status is given to any individual born from a human being and/or derived from human gametes regardless of its capacity-based functions or cognitive capabilities. But conferring personhood does not necessarily confer human status. First, any living organism that has human status also attains personhood status. I would like to present a slightly different approach from the above-mentioned criteria that addresses the definitions of human status and personhood in human-animal chimeras. How we define human status and apply personhood to any organism underscores a central tenet of bioethics and social justice-respecting the quality and value of life. The difficulty with both religious and secular definitions of human status or personhood is that we have no established scientific methods to accurately assess these criteria. Specifically, many secular ethicists have described personhood using capacity-based definitions (that is, the ability to think creatively, reason, and engage in self-motivating activities the capacity to communicate or the presence of self-awareness). In general, personhood denotes a set of capacities that imply both the ability to engage in certain sophisticated behaviors and an elevated moral standing deserving of certain legal protections. Many religious scholars include “ensoulment”-defined as the instant a human being attains a soul-as a characteristic of human status. Biologically, the term “human being” refers to an animal that genetically belongs to the species Homo sapiens. Human status and personhood have different meanings. If human gametes from these mice are used to generate a healthy baby, would that baby be considered. While most people understand that pigs growing human livers and kidneys could save lives, there is an ethical fear that these technologies may generate animals that incorporate human cells into their brains or sex organs-situations that require broader discussions regarding the question whether such organisms attain the status of personhood.įor example, is there a percent composition of human neurons incorporated into an animal’s brain that renders such a chimera human? Similarly, other stem cell technologies exist to create mice that produce human sperm or eggs. ![]() One of these innovations is xenotransplantation, which uses gene editing (CRISPR-Cas9) and stem cell technologies to create human-pig or human-sheep chimeras that can grow human organs for transplantation. ![]() ISTOCK, LEPTOSPIRA There are several emerging biotechnologies that raise ethical questions regarding the definition of personhood. ![]()
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