Human-chimp hybrids are possible and could teach people to respect animals
Our future offspring may be part-human, part-chimp. At least that's the nightmarish vision of self-proclaimed expert, David Barash, a professor of psychology emeritus at the University of Washington.
Dr Barash says that not only is the creation of 'humanzees' possible using gene editing, but producing such creatures would be a 'terrific idea'. He believes it would force humans to acknowledge we are no different to animals and help stop the 'grotesque abuse' of the planet's creatures.
Dr Barash's remarkable comments - which could lead to a situation resembling Planet of the Apes - were made in his new book titled: Through a glass brightly: Using science to see our species as it really is. They follow recent claims by evolutionary psychologist, Gordon Gallup, that a 'humanzee' was born in an American lab nearly 100 years ago before being killed by panicked doctors.
In an extract from his book which appears in the magazine Nautilus, Dr Barash describes the belief that we are discontinuous from the natural world as possibly 'the most hurtful theologically-driven myth of all times'.
CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool for making precise edits in DNA, discovered in bacteria. The acronym stands for 'Clustered Regularly Inter-Spaced Palindromic Repeats'.
The technique involves a DNA cutting enzyme and a small tag which tells the enzyme where to cut. By editing this tag, scientists are able to target the enzyme to specific regions of DNA and make
Dr Barash believes CRISPR technology could be used to add or delete targeted genes as desired.
This means it might be possible to make precise edits in DNA and 'silence' certain genes that are different between the species.
'It is unclear whether my own imagined chimphuman will be a hybrid (produced by cross-fertilising human and non-human gametes), or a chimera, created in a laboratory via techniques of genetic manipulation. I’m betting on the latter', wrote Dr Barash. Creating a hybrid animal would stop people thinking of themselves as apart from the natural world, Dr Barash argues. 'Such an individual would not be an exact equal-parts-ofeach combination, but would be neither human nor chimp: rather, something in between', he said.
Humans and chimps have a huge amount in common, such as making tools, developing strong mother-offspring bonds, grieving and reconciling after conflicts. They also share 99 per cent of the same DNA.
In his book, the eminent psychologist argues that despite our perceived similarities with chimps - as well as other animals - we still claim to have an essence that makes us unique. However, this rigid distinction between the two is no longer tenable and creating a fusion could be a 'real mind expander and paradigm buster.'
'It is at least arguable that the ultimate benefit of teaching human beings their true nature would be worth the sacrifice paid by a few unfortunates', Dr Barash writes. 'For every chimphuman or humanzee frustrated by her inability to write a poem or program a computer, there could equally be one delighted by her ability to do so while swinging from a tree branch.'
This would not be the first fusion between species - mallards and pintail ducks often interbreed, grizzlies and polar bears do occasionally. A recent study found ravens are actually two separate species that recombined several hundred thousand years ago, the professor points out.
Tigrons have also occasionally been generated by hybridising lions and tigers and mules made from crossing horses and donkeys. If a human-chimpanzee hybrid is ever created, it might not be the first. Earlier this year, a scientist claimed that a 'humanzee' was born in an American lab nearly 100 years ago before being killed by panicked doctors. Renowned evolutionary psychologist, Gordon Gallup, told The Sun that the creature was born in a lab in Orange Park,Florida. He said that his former university professor claimed the humanzee baby was born at a research facili- precise cuts, wherever they like. It has been used to 'silence' genes - effectively switching them off.
When cellular machinery repairs the DNA break, it removes a small snip of DNA. In this way, researchers can precisely turn off specific genes in the genome. The approach has been used previously to edit the HBB gene responsible for a condition called -thalassaemia. ty where he used to work.
Dr Gallup, who is also a University of Albany professor said the professor worked at Yerkes before the research centre moved to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1930. 'One of the most interesting cases involved an attempt which was made back in the 1920s in what was the first primate research center established in the US in Orange Park, Florida,' Dr Gallup said. 'They inseminated a female chimpanzee with human semen from an undisclosed donor and claimed not only that pregnancy occurred but the pregnancy went full-term and resulted in a live birth. But in the matter of days, or a few weeks, they began to consider the moral and ethical considerations and the infant was euthanized,' Dr Gallup said.
Lots of scientists and campaign groups have previously raised concerns about the ethical and practical considerations of promoting gene editing. Josephine Quintaville of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics has previously warned that scientists in the future might use gene editing to alter embroyos to ensure they are intelligent or attractive. 'This is the inevitability of it, a whole kind of eugentic approach to human life'.
Dr Gallup’s term humanzee became well known in the 1970s after the emergence of a chimp known as Oliver, a bald chimp who walked on his hind legs. Despite claims that Oliver was a human-chimp hybrid, tests later proved that the animal was not a humanzee.
Russia biologist Ilya Ivanov, in the 1920s, tried and failed to create a Soviet super-soldier using human sperm and female chimps. Another reported case happened in China in 1967 where a female primate became pregnant with a human-hybrid, but died from neglect after the lab's scientists were forced to abandon the project.
Dr Gallup claims that humans can be crossbred with other apes and not just chimpanzees. 'All of the available evidence both fossil, palaeontological and biochemical, including DNA itself, suggests that humans can also breed with gorillas and orang-utans,' he added.
A spokeswoman for Yerkes National Primate Research Center, said: 'We have not been involved with any "humanzee" experiments, but rather conduct and enable peer-reviewed research studies to help fight disease and improve human health.'