Stanford to Put Mice in Men

Stanford's special ethics committee convened to make a decision about putting mouse-harbored human stem cells into humans, a committee led by Hank Greely, has decided that the experiments should go ahead. Mercury-News is high on Stanford's accomplishment in studying the problem before moving ahead - which is really a major achievement, particularly since this committee did not attempt to gloss over the issues, as have, arguably, a number of comparable corporate ethics committees on stem cell research:

... Stanford asked where it should draw the line. It is the first university in the nation to tackle the philosophical question: When does a chimera stop being an animal and start becoming a person, suggesting that research should end? The report foreshadows the release of guidelines on stem-cell research, including chimeras, by the National Academy of Sciences this spring.

The committee has asked Stem Cells, Inc. (the company that is in collaboration with Stanford on the research) to

kill the mice as they develop to see if their brains are developing in human ways. ``If there is anything that might suggest some risk that there is anything that might remotely be viewed as `humanness' being transferred to a mouse, we've asked him to stop,'' Greely said.

``It's a little creepy,'' he conceded. ``But it's not going to get up and say, `Hi, I'm Mickey.' Our brains are far more complicated.''