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The UK Transpecies Embryo Debate. Nik Brown Senior Lecturer Sociology University of York.
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The UK Transpecies Embryo Debate Nik Brown Senior Lecturer Sociology University of York ‘We must learn… to investigate… the practical and political mystery of separation. What is man, if he is always the place – and, at the same time, the result – of ceaseless divisions and caesurae? It is more urgent to work on these divisions, to ask in what way… has man been separated from non-man, and the animal from the human, than it is to take positions on the great issues, on so-called human rights and values’ (Agamben, The Open, p16).
The UK Transpecies Embryo Debate … the difficulty… stems from the possibility that there is something inherently unique about human life, and if you believe there is something inherently unique about us as human beings are you willing to chance your arm and say what you think some of the characteristics are that give us that uniqueness? You have two seconds. (Bishop of St Albans -June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
The UK Transpecies Embryo Debate …one of the [audience] comments… was that, “If the BBC employed any science graduates… they might understand that … they are using some animal derived cell material to produce wholly human embryos. A cat can have kittens in the oven without them being biscuits and not everyone born in a stable is a horse.” (Fergus Walsh, BBC - June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
The UK Transpecies Embryo Debate … My view would be that the essence of what makes us human as opposed to other animals is not easily measured in DNA terms… Somewhere deep down inside there must be specific DNA determinants that make me a person and a colleague whom I will not name a rat… (Prof. Bobrow - June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
The UK Transpecies Embryo Debate Contradiction and bodily in-betweenness: Douglas… pollution as ‘matter out of place’ Haraway… cyborgs Latour… hybrids Barad… intra-action Agamben… zones of indistinction Brown, N. Faulkner, A., Kent, J., Michael, M. (2006) Regulating Hybrids - 'making a mess' and 'cleaning up' in Tissue Engineering and Xenotransplantation, Social Theory and Health, 4, 1-24
The un/banned hybrid embryo From the ‘great embryo debate’ (GED) to TED It [the Act] … will establish a statutory licensing authority to ensure that treatments such as in vitro fertilisation take place in reputable centres and under proper safeguards. It will forbid research developments such as cloning and the creation of hybrids (Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech, 21 Nov 1989) When I said that in vitro fertilisation came suddenly, I said it in an attempt to suggest that other things, at which even my hon. Friend might wince, may come with equal suddenness… the White Paper suggests that the creation of hybrids should be forbidden. It seems to me an extremely serious matter that we should even consider such a thing, yet apparently it was thought necessary to suggest that we should legislate against such a development. (Anne Widdecombe, House of Commons, 23 Nov 1988)
The un/banned hybrid embryo The ‘hamster test’ The Bill allows the use of the hamster test under strictly controlled conditions. It is a useful test, but hamster eggs are not viable and cannot possibly be used for hybridisation, as they are not genetically compatible and never can be. Please do not let us have that myth hanging about, raising emotional feelings in people outside the House who do not have the advantage of knowing the facts. (Ms. Richardson, House of Commons, 23 Apr 1990).
The un/banned hybrid embryo ‘True hybrids’ Q41 Lord Winston: In your opinion, Colin, would such an [true hybrid] embryo if transferred to the uterus be viable in any way? Prof. Blakemore: A hybrid embryo? I think it would just be a guess at this stage, Robert…. (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
The un/banned hybrid embryo ‘True hybrids’ Q855 Chairman: Prof. Gillon, is there a distinction? Prof. Gillon: …What I do not understand is why more care or regulation should arise in the context of embryos that combine animal and human components than human embryos. (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
The un/banned hybrid embryo Georgio Agamben - Zones of exclusion / Extraordinary exception ‘…the fundamental categorical pair of Western politics is not that of friend / enemy… but that of bare life / political existence, zoe / bios, exclusion / inclusion’ (Homo Sacer, 8). Susan Squier (1998) - ‘… it brings to mind Freud’s 1925 essay, ‘Negation’, in which he observes that ‘the subject-matter of a repressed image or thought can make its way into consciousness on condition that it is denied’.’ Douglas – profane bodies ‘… enrich meaning and call attention to other levels of existence’. Edmund Leach - ‘In every myth… we will find a persistent sequence of binary descriminations as between human/superhuman, moral/imortal, male/female, legitimate/illigitimate, good/bad… followed by a ‘mediation’ of the paired categories’.
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation ‘pure hybrid’ – to be banned licensed Draft Bill May 2007
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation Prof. Blakemore:I must say that I am very confused by the list and particularly by the exclusion of the two categories, the one that we do not understand the fifth one, and the first one of true hybrids, the fusion of animal and human gametes, which apparently are forbidden for research but are allowed in the hamster test. So I would ask what the moral distinction is… If it were not prohibitive legislation it could be much more broad brush and the evolving process of definitions could be left to the regulatory, the licensing bodies underneath the law. (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation ‘The reasons for prohibiting the creation and use of "true"" hybrid embryos… while permitting research involving other types… are not clear to us. While we are not aware of any current scientific reasons to create such entities, we cannot rule out the emergence of valid reasons in the future’ (Academy of Medical Sciences - Ev 84).
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation Mr Walsh: All that one can do is try to get the essence of the story over and make clear that, as with the cytoplasmic embryos, that they are 99.9 per cent human, it is just that mitrochondrial DNA is there…. (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill) Q645 Chris Mole: … do you think there is any distinction between what are called true hybrids and the others, the other three that I have just mentioned? Dr Lovell-Badge: Fundamentally, no, I do not, I think they should all be treated the same way. The distinction between them is not great and there may be perfectly good reasons [to make them]… (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation ‘Numbers, once stabilized, have been recognized and theorized as paramount to claims of scientific (as well as political and social) objectivity and transparency…’ (Ayrn Martin, 2004, 944). The number of the Beast:‘When boundaries are drawn between humans and non-humans with the help of numbers, the certainty produced by absolute and percentage figures conceals that the categorisations could be made in other ways’ (Tora Holmberg 2005, 24).
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation Q651 Robert Key: Could I ask you if you think the Government has got it right… if there is 50 percent or more that is of human genetic constitution then you should define it as human. Is that distinction scientifically sound? Dr Minger: It goes back to Professor Gibson’s comment on what is 50 per cent? Is it 50 per cent DNA, is it 50 per cent genes, is it 50 per cent coding sequences, is it 50 per cent chromosomes? That concept to me again biologically just does not make any sense. If I take a mouse and put 70 per cent of its brain that I derived from human embryonic stem cells, is that human? I would argue it is probably not but 50 per cent is just an arbitrary figure as well. (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation Q654 Dr Gibson: Given all the interactions between nuclear mitochondrial DNA, a lot of which you do not know about yet, it opens up an exciting research field but the possibility of strange happenings. Prof. Holm: …as has been hypothesised by some at least, that the animal mitochondria will eventually disappear and be replaced by human mitochondria, in which case they would at some point undoubtedly, on anyone’s definition, be fully human…. (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation Haraway, D. (1995) Otherworldly Conversations Hird, M.J. (2002) The corporeal generosity of maternity M'charek, A. (2005) The mitochondrial eve of modern genetics From ‘egg enucleation’ to ‘despeciation’ Gendering the cell nuclear / mitochondria male / female human / animal speciated core / despeciated shell timeless / finite permanent / transient
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation Prof. Bobrow: The idea of a single, general definition is very attractive. The problem for me in this area is that we do have this bipid system where we regulate animals and things that come from an animal in one way and things that start as human in another way. We are trying to deal with the meeting of it. (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation …chimeras made using animal embryos are regulated under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986… Any embryos not considered to be a protected animal do not come within the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act…Under the [Act] an animal will become a protected animal from the halfway point of its gestation. (Lord Hunt, Written Answers, House of Lords, 25th June 2007)
Making Differences - debating definitional differentiation Prof. Bobrow: If you have a human embryo with some mouse DNA, it cannot be carried beyond nine and a half days, half of the mouse’s gestational age. [This] is a tighter restriction… than on a fully human embryo. … the only rationale for blocking this group of experiments between nine and a half and 14 days is the administrative inconvenience of having to coordinate two regulatory regimes…(June 2007 - Joint Committee) ‘… regulatory questions will increasingly arise from research involving non-human embryos and animals incorporating human material… the interface between the regulatory regimes governing human embryos, human embryonic stem cells and animal research will become increasingly important…’ Memorandum by the Academy of Medical Sciences
Profane Politics and Pure Science Prof. Braude: … I think everybody knows what a neonate is but if you spoke to somebody and talked to them about a mitochondrial inter-species hybrid they would not know what you were talking about… Mr Henderson: My guess is that if you took 100 Times readers maybe you would be lucky to find one who was able to tell you the difference…it is very difficult to tell them at the moment. (June 2007 - Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill)
The UK Transpecies Embryo Debate • The non-specific future? • Regulatory institutional species boundaries? • Consultation? • The contradictory place of animals in culture?
