|TOP|One of the first groups in the U.S. to publicly oppose experimentation using live human embryos, has expressed shock and horror at the latest creation by a leading U.S. research institute of man-mouse chimeras.

Scientists at Salk Institute in California have created human-mouse chimeras – mixtures of human and animal species that cannot develop in nature - by injecting the brains of mice with human embryonic stem cells obtained by killing live human embryos.

Operation Rescue has reacted with anger at the latest development in stem cell research, voicing particular concern at the extent to which they push ethical barriers within the medical research community.

|QUOTE|Human embryonic stem cells are harvested by killing live and developing human embryos before cell differentiation has begun. This alone should present problems for ethicists," said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger, author of a number of published articles decrying human experimentation.

She continued: “But to inject the cells from these humans beings into the brains of mice creates new ethical considerations.

“We have no idea of the consequences of such actions. Creating a new breed of man-mice should be shocking and unacceptable to anyone who values and respects human life. Just a decade ago, it would have been."

Ms. Sullenger argues that adult stem cell treatments have shown much greater promise than the use of stem cells stripped from live human embryos, claiming that, “There is not one person alive today that has benefited from embryonic stem cells, but there are many who have had their lives improved with emerging adult stem cell treatments”.

She attacked researchers that continue to “insist upon using life-destructive research”.

|AD|Ms. Sullenger said that there is “more promise with research that does not harm innocent life”, adding that the latest man-mouse chimeras are “an indicator that the ethics of the medical research community have eroded to the point where they apparently can no longer see why the degradation of life through these appalling experiments is wrong”.

The Salk Institute is widely acclaimed the world over not least because of the discovery of the cure for Polio by its founder, Jonas Salk.

“It is sad to see this institution, which was once dedicated to saving lives, so callously pervert and destroy the lives of the most vulnerable among us in a depraved quest for medical advancement,” said Sullenger.

She concluded: “Research derived from such human loss and degradation must not be accepted by civilised men and women.

The price we will have to pay, morally and ethically, is just too high. This crosses the line of decency. Where will it stop?”