The American Public Is Ready to Accept Human-Animal Chimera Research

Andrew T Crane; Francis X Shen; Jennifer L Brown; Warren Cormack; Mercedes Ruiz-Estevez; Joseph P Voth; Tsutomu Sawai; Taichi Hatta; Misao Fujita; Walter C Low

doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.08.018

The American Public Is Ready to Accept Human-Animal Chimera Research

Stem Cell Reports. 2020 Oct 13;15(4):804-810. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.08.018. Epub 2020 Oct 1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Electronic address: atcrane@umn.edu.
² University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: fxshen@umn.edu.
³ University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁴ University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁵ Recombinetics, Inc., Eagan, MN, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁷ Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (WPI-ASHBi), KUIAS Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; Uehiro Research Division for iPS Cell Ethics, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
⁸ Uehiro Research Division for iPS Cell Ethics, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
⁹ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Stem Cell Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Abstract

We report findings from a new survey of US public attitudes toward human-animal chimeric embryo (HACE) research, designed to compare with recently reported Japanese survey data. We find that 59% of the US public can personally accept the process of injecting human induced pluripotent stem cells into genetically modified swine embryos and having human tissues produced in a pig's body transplanted into a human. This is greater acceptance than in Japan, and there is even strong acceptance among those with strong religious affiliations and who self-identify as conservatives. We argue that strong public support for HACE research, as well as the emerging literature suggesting that humanization of research animals is very unlikely, should compel the NIH to lift its current moratorium on HACE research.

Keywords: US public attitudes; blastocyst complementation; ethics and policy; gene editing; human-animal chimeric embryo.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Chimera / physiology*
Humans
Public Opinion*
Research*
Surveys and Questionnaires
United States

Grants and funding

T32 AG052354/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States