Bishop urges caution on human-animal hybrids

The Catholic Church has warned about the use of human-animal hybrids to grow organs for transplant ahead of this year’s Day for Life.

Bishop John Sherrington, the lead bishop on life issues, said that while historically the Church had cautiously welcomed the possibility of treating transplant patients with organs grown in animals, “much could go wrong”.
His comments came as scientists at the University of California announced that, for the first time, they were trying to grow a human pancreas inside a pig by injecting animal embryos with human stem cells.

There is a risk that  “they could create animal-human mixes that are too human, or new diseases like pig flu that could weaken the barrier that protects humans from disease in animals. There’s a chance of giving false hope, and also the animal welfare issue … animals are not simply there to be exploited, they are part of God’s good creation,” said Bishop Sherrington.

This year’s Day for Life that is marked tomorrow will call for prayers for human life and will ask Catholics to make a financial contribution to support pastoral care for women and babies, as well as pro-life parliamentary work.

Asked about pro-life campaigning tactics, which can include praying outside abortion clinics, Bishop Sherrington said that such vigils must be conducted respectfully. “Prayer is always helpful. I think it obviously does antagonise some people,” he said. “For me the question is how it’s done. The witness of prayer can be very ­powerfully persuasive so I think there is a role but it has to be done in the right way.”

He added that he was surprised and shocked by the Royal College of Midwives’ recent call for the legalisation of abortion until birth. It is currently against the law for a woman to terminate her pregnancy after 24 weeks without medical reasons.

 “We have such clear protection for children who are born with disabilities but there seems to be a gap between understanding the child with disability in the womb and the one who’s born,” he said.