TRANSHUMANISM , eugenics , evolution , Genetically Modified Food, animal hybrids – the future?

Tom Horn interview, by Alex Ansary

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Interview with filmmaker Ken Klein, on transhumanism ( Animal-Human Hybrids)

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Interview with filmmaker Ken Klein, on transhumanism, ‘harbinger of
Revelation,’ and filming demons in the infrared spectrum

Author, filmmaker, and former NFL defensive back Ken Klein has made a career of delving into places where – to paraphrase John Madden – most Christians don’t even know there are places.

His latest film, “Trans-Humanism,” blows the lid off a controversial yet still secretive development. Klein’s alarming video is the only documentary telling the whole story of the quickly evolving technological, cultural and philosophical transhumanism movement.

In a recent interview with WND, Klein shared his insights about what transhumanism means for modern man and for Christians in particular.

But if anyone thinks “big picture,” it is Ken Klein, so our conversation quickly moved on to matters of spiritual and prophetic significance – including phenomena covered in his extremely provocative documentary “Invasion of the Dark Stars” .

“The problem is, we tend to apply what we learn to what moves us in an antichrist direction.”

WND: The “transhumanism” rubric covers several areas: technology, medicine, philosophy and religion. It seems inarguable that technology is what has brought the current state of affairs upon us, and this is the branch covered in most detail in your “Trans-Humanism” documentary.

Key achievements and advances include: Nanotechnology, biorobotics, genetic engineering, stem cell sciences, biodesign, human embryology, hybrids/clones/transgenics, extended performance “super soldiers,” and exotic life forms that can be patented.

As the film clearly shows, the momentum behind transhumanist research in the military and pharmaceutical industries is unstoppable. Narrator Tom Horn observes that the gate is open; it is WAY further open than the average human could even imagine; and it is not going to close.

Is the scientific genie so far out of the bottle that followers of Christ can only hold onto their seats and wait to see what happens?

Ken Klein: The genie was let out of the bottle when we first partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Technology and science, in and of themselves, are amoral. It’s what we do with what we know that determines whether it’s going to be good or evil. The problem is, we tend to apply what we learn to what moves us in an antichrist direction.

Look at our track record with scientific discoveries:

The early 1900s saw the invention of airplanes – and one of the first things we did was arm them with bombs.

Thereafter came Einstein’s theories and the development of nuclear energy, and what did we do with that – has it been good or bad? We’re now at a crescendo point in history with regard to nuclear weapons.

Go back 20 years to the invention of the Web: What predominates the Internet now? Pornography. Is the Internet good or bad? Well, it’s the way it’s used. There are more downloads for that particular area of human interest than any others.

So what can we expect from the latest technologies such as cloning, what can we expect from all of these “-ologies” except more of the same? We could debate whether technology has really advanced the human race or made it better, but it’s definitely been turned against us at times. It’s been an application for evil more than for good.

“It can’t just be any body; it’s going to have to be an engineered body.”

WND: Transhumanism is a modern philosophical system that veers from technology right into metaphysics. A central idea in this philosophy is that humanity as we know it is a transitional state.

Through genetic manipulation we could produce biological “posthumans” of a new and distinct species, even combining the DNA of many people into a single embryo. This “Homo Sapiens 2.0” could be engineered to interface more directly with computers. Where we formerly had a body, we could have what is being called a “designed extended cognitive network.”

As recently explained in a transhumanist discussion forum:

“Transhumanism as a philosophy argues we can become better than human through technology. Unguided, natural evolution has done all it could hope to do. Transhumanists believe that from here on out, humans should take up the reins and craft the evolution of our species using nanotech, genetics, pharmaceuticals, and augmentations to go above and beyond our biology.”

We might be tempted to say such striving is evil – at best, promethean hubris. How far does God’s Spirit tell us we are allowed to go with technological inquiry?

Ken Klein: One of the more interesting scriptures in the Bible is where Jesus said, “Father, a body Thou hast prepared for Me.” (Heb 10:5)

Jesus’ physical body had to be tailor-made through the development of generations of specific genes that would pass down to Mary and allow for the Immaculate Conception. It wasn’t just any body that the Spirit of God could dwell in. And so Jesus body came through a very specific line of predecessors. The integrity of His physical DNA was managed through the purity of a specific line of people all the way back to Adam.

Well, I think we can expect the same thing to happen with the body that Lucifer will have to take, because we know that there will be an Antichrist who will be the embodiment of the spirit of Lucifer, who was an archangel. It can’t just be any body; it’s going to have to be an engineered body.

Now we have the science to merge all kinds of brilliant scientists and thinkers into a genetic soup that could bring forth a superior intelligence – and not only that, but a superior body – that could house the spirit of Lucifer.

I think all of these technologies will come together – all of the science, all of the amazing computer capabilities for making many decisions in the snap of a finger – to design something that would be the house in which Lucifer could come to dwell: the embodiment of Lucifer as the Antichrist.

Just as Jesus had a body that was prepared for him immaculately by the Father, so has mankind now the capability to manufacture a body that could house the spirit of Satan.

“If you made an army from one man, what would happen to the conscience of each one?”

WND: It certainly raises the larger question: What is man?

Ken Klein: Consider the effect of cloning. I’m pretty sure there are already cloned humans – we just don’t know about them because they don’t tell us everything. You know the stealth fighter that was introduced in the Gulf War was held under wraps for at least 10 or 15 years before that war even took place. We didn’t even know about stealth technology. So how much do we not know that has been kept under wraps? And this whole science of transgenics is over 20 years old so who knows how fast they’ve moved along the lines of creating an engineered human being? I believe it’s probably already happened.

So what happens to a human conscience if it’s cloned? If you take a human being, and you clone another human being, what happens? Is that consience divided in half? If you made an army from one man – cloned individuals – what would happen to the conscience of each one of those clones? Would they be split again: a half, a half, a half, all the way down … until how much is left of a conscience?

What we’re creating through all these technologies is a conscience-less human.

Now that’s how we hear God, through our conscience. And you know, when somebody commits a serial murder they’re killing their heart, they’re killing their conscience; it just begins to diminish any light of God that would come into that person. And so this is a horrific development, creating human beings that have no conscience. They’re liable to do anything.

All of these technologies are headed in a direction where the Pandora’s box, although it’s been opened for now thousands of years, is coming to a climactic conclusion – with the engineering of a body, and the splitting of the conscience – that is quite frightening.

“We’re seeing in transhumanism the harbinger of the book of Revelation coming to pass.

WND: In “Trans-Humanism,” Tom Horn suggests that this direction of technological advancement could “lead us into the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.” Can you elaborate?

Ken Klein: There is a passage in Revelation 9 (1-10), which is an amazing scripture:

It says, “And the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” There is no doubt this is Lucifer.

“And he opened the bottomless pit.” Now, where is this bottomless pit? Somewhere in the spiritual dimension.

“And there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” This isn’t the kind of smoke that we would see with our eyes; it’s kind of a spiritual smokiness.

“And there came out of the smoke locusts (or mantises) upon the earth.” Now we tend to think of this in terms of the locusts you see down there in Texas that make all the noise, but this could be a kind of a human – a “mantis-human.”

“And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” They could sting you somehow.

“And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” They know something spiritual, these locusts or mantises. I believe they are a kind of people.

“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.”

If this isn’t some kind of merging of animal DNA with human DNA then I don’t know what it means. But it seems to come out of some dimension of creativity that is evil – “the bottomless pit.” So that must be some dimension of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the evil side.

Therefore, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil isn’t just constrained to knowledge of the world, of gravity for instance: It’s spiritual stuff, too. Now men are capable of discovering the codes of DNA, the very codes of human life and able to manipulate them in such a way that they can produce the merging of animal and human DNA in such a way that they can produce a being that is less than human, but in some ways more than human.

And this film, “Trans-Humanism,” is like a guidepost and a wake-up call, because most people are not really paying attention. We’re all so busy, especially nowadays with the financial situation, that many can barely keep food on the table. We’re so distracted by the world outside that we’re not paying attention to things that are going on in secret. And this film blows the lid of some of the things that are going on – and have been for some time – that people haven’t even really thought about.

But we have Scripture that seems to support the idea that something like this is going to happen, and it’s not going to be pretty when it comes down to all of this stuff being fully released. We’re seeing in transhumanism the harbinger of the book of Revelation coming to pass.

“They’re atheists – most of them – so they have kind of a void.”

WND: The scenario you paint is paradoxical, in that the motives of those advancing transhumanism could be perfectly good or at least morally neutral – but it’s as though there’s another force at work at the same time, unbeknown to the people doing the development.

Ken Klein: If you peel back all the layers of human existence, back to the world that was before there was a “was,” you see this angel war going on in the heavens in Revelation 12. And Lucifer was able to present his case in such a way that a third of the angels followed him.

The same type of wooing he did then is going on now, on earth. People are fascinated with all of these “-ologies” and enticements to investigate secret mysteries. Most of those in the scientific world are not religious people. They’re atheists – most of them – so they have kind of a void. What’s filling the void is an inclination towards humanitarianism – considered the finest philosophical view of human existence one could have. Therefore, many of them think they’re doing good, but they’re tampering with stuff that’s being dangled before them; mysteries that everybody want to solve. They’re biting, hard, into it.

But their inclination, and the inclination of humankind, is two things:

One is self-preservation and the prolonging of life – because nobody wants to face the ugly prospect of death. If we can make life better, if we can prolong life, that’s good. Well, the Bible doesn’t teach that. It’s not as though God doesn’t want you to have a happy and prosperous and healthy life. It’s just that the Bible teaches us that cursed is the day you are born and blessed is the day you leave. Why? Because this world is fallen. This world is a place of prison. It’s a judgment we’re in here.

And to prolong life in many respects is not good. Look what happened to Hezekiah when he wanted to prolong his life. It ended up being granted and he sired Manasseh, one of the worst kings of Israel. Long life is not necessarily a good thing. Yet this is what drives people because self-preservation is a powerful instinct in human beings.

Secondly is the desire to rule over your brother. Look where slavery’s gotten us, and men wanting to be in power over corporations and organizations – and even in the church world, with the authority of pastors. It can be somehwat oppressive. They accused Joseph of this in the Old Testament. That’s what Pharoah was all about, what Caesar was all about. And that’s why Americans who came here originally left England: They didn’t want somebody ruling over them. But there is in man a desire to rule over his brother.

These technologies, where we have the ability to create super soldiers, is more of the same. It’s “who’s going to get the upper hand to rule over the other?”

There’s a constant theme, throughout history, of these two things: self-preservation and the desire to rule over your brother. Of course in the book of Revelation we know that this is what is called the “deeds of the Nicolatians.” (Rev 2:6)

Nicolatian was a person that escaped the laity … secret knowledge, be above the masses, be in the know, rule over them. This is part of where this technology’s going because those powers within a human being can only be circumcised, so to speak, by the Spirit of Christ when it comes into you. And still you have to fight against those tendencies for self and for the desire to rule.

“You can see them in the infrared spectrum as we’ve filmed them. These are those angels that once followed Lucifer …”

WND: In the course of making the “Trans-Humanism” documentary – and certainly more so in the case of “Invasion of the Dark Stars,” you have peered through windows that some Christians either never have considered, or would not believe.

The “powers of the air” come into play in a couple of ways with regard to both of your films.

There is the actual spirit world revealed in “Invasion of the Dark Stars,” which some people think they might have direct access to, given sufficient sensory and mental enhancement. Then there is the possibility that demons are in fact at work facilitating some of this exploration.

How do you believe the spirits of the air interact with individual humans? And can the technology that allows us to peer into their realm serve to guide us, or should it just frighten us, or what?

Ken Klein: There is the particular nature of human beings, but it’s exacerbated by what I focused on in “Invasion of the Dark Stars.” It follows from the incredible story of the war that took place in heaven where the angels that followed Lucifer were thrown down with him.

We’ve been able to see it in the infrared spectrum. What we’re seeing, I believe, are these creatures that were formerly angels, that have been thrown down into this world. They’re grotesque-looking – they’re all twisted – and they don’t have benign motives.

Even in my own backyard we’ve been able to film them, some of them.

The intention of Lucifer is to rule this world. He has probes that he’s sent out in these orbs that I believe are collectors of human conversations. Our conversations are intercepted by these probes, and these probes can then sort of make designer diseases for your mind. I realize it’s pretty far out thinking. But when you read in the book of Ephesians, it says “Put on the whole armor of God,” and we’re warned about certain ways of behaving because we are being monitored by these fallen angels.

Their desire is to destroy us and to twist us, and transhumanism is part of their twisting. They’re behind all of these things that afflict humanity.

We’re warned in the book of Ephesians to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the schemes and strategies – it says “wiles” – of the devil. He’s got many strategies and schemes, and one is to collect data, just like the FBI listening in on your house. That’s a good metaphor because what Lucifer’s doing is collecting data on every human. Why? Because he wants to possess them. He wants to invade them.

And so, many times what happens in our mind – and that’s the battleground – is that he will inject thoughts, like a syringe shooting poison into our minds. We don’t even consider them not being our own thoughts. They’re thoughts that come by the design that has been created by the things that we say and he can disguise his voice as our own. The thoughts we think, we think are our own, but they’re not. They’ve been designed by Lucifer because he has been listening, he’s been monitoring our speech with these probes. And we don’t even know it’s going on.

So we have been invaded. These forces are animating politicians: They don’t realize they’re being assailed, and many of the thoughts they have are coming from the fallen realm. Many of the doctors and the lawyers and all kinds of people in prominent positions of authority are being affected by this invasion, not knowing that they’re being listened to, and their voices are being dissected and designer diseases or mental diseases are being injected into their minds. They think they’re their own thoughts and they’re not. It’s the twisted one who has successfully disguised himself as their own voice.

This is a fantastic thought, I understand. But Orson Welles in 1938 came out with the “War of the Worlds” broadcast on Halloween night; everybody thought the world was being invaded by UFOs that landed in London. Now it’s a big joke.

But it’s not a joke. We have filmed these things in the infrared spectrum, and it’s really real, and it’s really happening on this planet, and it’s getting worse and worse.

You can see them in the infrared spectrum as we’ve filmed them. These are those angels that once followed Lucifer, who were deceived, woo’d by him with a great sales pitch, and as a result of that war God decided that he would have to be thrown out of his angelship. And he was thrown into this world, and he’s got billions of followers that are assigned to humanity – some to each human – to monitor each one of us, because each one of us is a potential threat. We shall be called children of God and he hates that because he’s been judged, and he’s not a happy camper.

So he’s invaded this world with his minions, and we’ve filmed them, and it ain’t pretty. It’s real.

“Most Christians, when they talk about Satan and Lucifer and demons, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

WND:In “The Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis says there are two dangers with regard to the realm of demons. One is that mankind doesn’t believe in them at all. And the other is an excessive, unhealthy interest or fascination. So it’s a complex topic.

Well, you know when I was filming down in New Orleans, the guy who told me he was filming these things started talking to them, and they were listening to him. He didn’t realize they were suckering him into having dialogue with them – direct communication with them. And one of them was walking away from him and he said “Why are you walking away from me?” and it turned around and came back.

He told me what was going on between him and these fallen powers and I said “You know, you’re making a huge mistake entertaining them. I don’t mind you filming them, but don’t commune with them. That’s dangerous because they’re not here for your well-being, they’re here to destroy. They’re very smart – a lot smarter than you – and you can be very much enticed and tricked by them.”

I prayed for him and counseled him to stop doing what he was doing, and he listened to me.

They don’t come off as though they’re evil. I mean, they don’t seem to have an agenda. But they do have an agenda, according to the Bible. So we have to be wise, and also put on the armor of God, and beware of them, and learn how to discern our own thought life. And that can only be done when we have an objective perspective on things and can figure out and pick off what are called “noemas” in the Bible – they’re called “fiery darts” in the translations. But that’s what these are. They’re thought patterns that most of humanity does not even realize are occurring to them. It’s that sinister, it’s that stealthy, and the Bible teaches about these things.

We need to put them into modern realities, and that’s why this film “Invasion of the Dark Stars” is so important. Because most Christians, when they talk about Satan and Lucifer and demons, they don’t know what they’re talking about. They hardly believe in them themselves because it’s unseen, it’s surreal – and so most of the time it’s a theoretical discussion.

But now we have tangible proof that they’re here, we’ve been invaded, and this is happening right now. It’s affecting the scientific world, we can see it manifesting in transhumanism. It’s affecting the political world and the nations against nations. It’s affecting families, daughters against mothers, sons against fathers. They’ve come to divide us. It’s happening in the military world, and all these things going on on the planet.

We have been turned against each other in many different ways, and it’s the powers of darkness that have come down.

It says here as we read in Revelation: “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth …” (Rev. 9:1)

Now it’s not talking about a physical “star” – angels were called stars in the Bible. And this is certainly Lucifer and the powers that he brought with him to unleash all of these things upon us. And we’re now able to see in “Trans-Humanism” this merging of animal DNA and human DNA, and we’re able to see in “Invasion of the Dark Stars” these powers that are orchestrating all these things that are going on on the earth: the political, the economic and the social are all being manipulated and managed by these powers behind the scenes.

We don’t even know they’re there or believe they’re there, and if we do believe we only think of it in a theoretical sense, we don’t take it seriously.

But all these things are upon us, and that’s the importance of these two films.

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Transhumanist philosophy promotes the idea of human enhancement by technological means. In its extremes, futuristic concepts like intelligence enhancement (up to “superintelligence”) using techniques like genetic engineering, psychopharmacology, anti-aging therapies, neural interfaces, wearable/implantable computers, long-lasting internal organ replacement, mental uploading and so forth are propagated from prominent positions like the US Nanotechnology Initiative and the Oxford University philosophy department.

The 21st century, the age of technological advancements, is instilling in modern civilizations a new innovation that could change the shape of humanity forever. The increased growth of Transhumanism, we are told, is a first step into breaking through the barriers of human limitations.

But the concept of human enhancement by technological means is not primarily a technological issue, but rather the newest incarnation of the ancient, deeply religious endeavor “to become like God” – infinitely wise, omnipotent, autonomous, and immortal.

READ: TransHumanism ( animal-human hybrids) near future arms race?

FrankenKitty: Genetically Modified Cats Glowing Green for Science

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a genome-based immunization strategy to fight feline AIDS and illuminate ways to combat human HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The goal is to create cats with intrinsic immunity to the feline AIDS virus. The findings — called fascinating and landmark by one reviewer — appear in the current online issue of Nature Methods.

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In 1961 researcher Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts noticed a molecule in this jellyfish that glowed bright green under ultraviolet light (as pictured).

After extracting the molecule from 10,000 specimens, Shimomura found the protein that creates the glow.

At some point, a light bulb went off. Some of Shimomura’s colleagues realized that the protein could be attached to other proteins–enabling scientists to mark proteins of their choice with a green glow.

Since then, Shimomura’s green fluorescent protein (GFP) has been used to decrypt previously invisible processes, like the spread of cancer or the development of nerve cells–earning Shimomura and colleagues a Nobel Prize in 2008.

Fluorescent proteins have also been used to engineer some truly strange beasts (and the odd plant), such as the glowing puppies, monkeys, mice, fish and other animals on the following pages.

In 1994 GFP was cloned. Now GFP is found in laboratories all over the world where it is used in every conceivable plant and animal. Flatworms, algae, E. coli and pigs have all been made to fluoresce with GFP. In 2008, GFP was recognized when the Nobel Committee awarded Osamu Shimomura, Marty Chalfie and Roger Tsien the Chemistry Nobel Prize “for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP.”

Also Read: Scientists Warn of Planet of the Apes Scenario

Scientists warn of “Planet of the Apes” scenario

‘Frankenstein’: UK scientists warn about secret human-animal hybrid research

In a scenario that a panel of scientists with the Academy of Medical Sciences warned bears resemblance to Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” British scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in secret research conducted in British laboratories.

According to the Daily Mail, 155 “admixed” embryos, containing both human and animal genetic material, have been created over the past three years by scientists who said stem cells could be harvested from the embryos to be used in research into possible cures for a wide range of diseases.

The secret research was revealed after a committee of scientists warned of a nightmare scenario in which the creation of human-animal hybrids could go too far.

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge of the National Institute for Medical Research and co-author of a report by the committee of scientists, warned about the experiments and called for stricter oversight of this type of research. He especially zeroed in on human genetic material being implanted into animal embryos, and attempts at giving lab animals human attributes by injecting human stem cells into the brains of monkeys.

It was revealed that labs at King’s College London, Newcastle University and Warwick University were given licenses to carry out the research after the introduction of the 2008 Human Fertilisation Embryology Act that legalized the creation of human-animal hybrids, as well as ‘cybrids’, in which a human nucleus is implanted into an animal cell, and ‘chimeras’, in which human cells are mixed with animal embryos.

However, the scientists did not call for any additional legislation regulating such controversial research, but called instead for a panel of experts to oversee it. Prof Martin Bobrow, chair of the Academy working group that produced the report, said: “The very great majority of experiments present no issues beyond the general use of animals in research and these should proceed under current regulation.

“A limited number of experiments should be permissible subject to scrutiny by the expert body we recommend; and a very limited range should not be undertaken, at least until the potential consequences are more fully understood.”

Peter Saunders, the CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organization with 4,500 UK doctors, expressed his skepticism about any such regulatory body.

“Scientists regulating scientists is worrying because scientists are generally not experts in theology, philosophy and ethics and they often have ideological or financial vested interests in their research. Moreover they do not like to have restrictions placed on their work,” observed Saunders.

In a question and answer session in Parliament led by Lord David Alton following the release of the report, it was revealed that the human-animal hybrid research has stopped due to lack of funding.

“I argued in Parliament against the creation of human-animal hybrids as a matter of principle,” Lord Alton said. “None of the scientists who appeared before us could give us any justification in terms of treatment. At every stage the justification from scientists has been: if only you allow us to do this, we will find cures for every illness known to mankind. This is emotional blackmail.”

“Ethically it can never be justifiable – it discredits us as a country. It is dabbling in the grotesque,” Lord Alton added. “Of the 80 treatments and cures which have come about from stem cells, all have come from adult stem cells, not embryonic ones. On moral and ethical grounds this fails; and on scientific and medical ones too.”

Josephine Quintavalle, of the pro-life group Comment on Reproductive Ethics (Corethics), told the Daily Mail, “I am aghast that this is going on and we didn’t know anything about it. Why have they kept this a secret? If they are proud of what they are doing, why do we need to ask Parliamentary questions for this to come to light?”

“The problem with many scientists is that they want to do things because they want to experiment. That is not a good enough rationale,” Quintavalle concluded.

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In 2009, South Korean scientists have created four glow-in-the-dark beagles using cloning techniques that they say could help them develop cures for human diseases.

Frankenstein is alive :Eugenics, Human Cloning, GMO Food and the NWO

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‘Frankenstein’: UK scientists warn about secret human-animal hybrid research

In a scenario that a panel of scientists with the Academy of Medical Sciences warned bears resemblance to Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” British scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in secret research conducted in British laboratories.

According to the Daily Mail, 155 “admixed” embryos, containing both human and animal genetic material, have been created over the past three years by scientists who said stem cells could be harvested from the embryos to be used in research into possible cures for a wide range of diseases.

The secret research was revealed after a committee of scientists warned of a nightmare scenario in which the creation of human-animal hybrids could go too far.

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge of the National Institute for Medical Research and co-author of a report by the committee of scientists, warned about the experiments and called for stricter oversight of this type of research. He especially zeroed in on human genetic material being implanted into animal embryos, and attempts at giving lab animals human attributes by injecting human stem cells into the brains of monkeys.

It was revealed that labs at King’s College London, Newcastle University and Warwick University were given licenses to carry out the research after the introduction of the 2008 Human Fertilisation Embryology Act that legalized the creation of human-animal hybrids, as well as ‘cybrids’, in which a human nucleus is implanted into an animal cell, and ‘chimeras’, in which human cells are mixed with animal embryos.

However, the scientists did not call for any additional legislation regulating such controversial research, but called instead for a panel of experts to oversee it. Prof Martin Bobrow, chair of the Academy working group that produced the report, said: “The very great majority of experiments present no issues beyond the general use of animals in research and these should proceed under current regulation.

“A limited number of experiments should be permissible subject to scrutiny by the expert body we recommend; and a very limited range should not be undertaken, at least until the potential consequences are more fully understood.”

Peter Saunders, the CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organization with 4,500 UK doctors, expressed his skepticism about any such regulatory body.

“Scientists regulating scientists is worrying because scientists are generally not experts in theology, philosophy and ethics and they often have ideological or financial vested interests in their research. Moreover they do not like to have restrictions placed on their work,” observed Saunders.

In a question and answer session in Parliament led by Lord David Alton following the release of the report, it was revealed that the human-animal hybrid research has stopped due to lack of funding.

“I argued in Parliament against the creation of human-animal hybrids as a matter of principle,” Lord Alton said. “None of the scientists who appeared before us could give us any justification in terms of treatment. At every stage the justification from scientists has been: if only you allow us to do this, we will find cures for every illness known to mankind. This is emotional blackmail.”

“Ethically it can never be justifiable – it discredits us as a country. It is dabbling in the grotesque,” Lord Alton added. “Of the 80 treatments and cures which have come about from stem cells, all have come from adult stem cells, not embryonic ones. On moral and ethical grounds this fails; and on scientific and medical ones too.”

Josephine Quintavalle, of the pro-life group Comment on Reproductive Ethics (Corethics), told the Daily Mail, “I am aghast that this is going on and we didn’t know anything about it. Why have they kept this a secret? If they are proud of what they are doing, why do we need to ask Parliamentary questions for this to come to light?”

“The problem with many scientists is that they want to do things because they want to experiment. That is not a good enough rationale,” Quintavalle concluded.

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In 2009, South Korean scientists have created four glow-in-the-dark beagles using cloning techniques that they say could help them develop cures for human diseases.