A new Narsingh

Seeing the Narsingh incarnation of Lord Vishnu , though seems to be a joke but can be a reality in sometime from now. This is because the human cow clone is created in Britain.

Hybrid embryos that are part-human and part-animal have been created in Britain for the first time.

Scientists from Newcastle University made the embryos using DNA derived from a human stem cell and a cow egg. They survived three days. So the experiment is successful.

Hybrid embryos have proved ethically controversial, with religious groups like Roman Catholics opposing it.

But scientists say the 'chimeras' could be used in research into new therapies for conditions such as Parkinson's disease.

Optimists speculate that animal cloning may one day be used to breed a new generation of cows resistant to diseases, able to convert food more efficiently and produce more milk.

Critics say the process is not reliable enough, arguing clones are more susceptible to birth defects and premature death.

Prof John Burn, head of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University, said: 'If the team can produce cells which will survive in culture, it will open the door to a better understanding of disease processes without having to use precious human eggs.'Cells grown using animal eggs cannot be used to treat patients on safety grounds but they will help bring nearer the day when new stem cell therapies are available.' So the diseases like Parkinson's disease etc. won't remain incurable.

The admixed embryos - “cybrids” - are made by placing the nucleus from a human cell into an animal egg that has had its nucleus removed. The genetic material in the resulting embryos is 99.9 per cent human.

The ultimate aim is to grow these for six days and then to extract embryonic stem cells for research in genetic diseases.

By using cow eggs in their experiments scientists can avoid using human eggs, which are in very short supply. The lack of human eggs for embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) is apparently responsible for pursuing the creation of these cybrids.

Opponents of human embryonic stem cell research object to the destruction of human embryos and say even the tiniest embryo must be treated with dignity.

Though it seems to be great scientific progress but few think that it is against humanity.In the name of scientific progress, ethical lines have already been breached in the pursuit of human eggs from young, financially vulnerable women. And now, another ethical line is being entirely ignored, and we're suppose to be comforted by the fact that these tiny human-cows are destroyed after 14 or so days, not allowed to be implanted in a uterus (human? cow?) and permitted to grow. This is because it is already illegal to culture human-animal embryos for more than 14 days, or to implant them in the womb of a woman or animal.

The age of a person is discerned by the length of their existence, with certain attributes present at certain places in development. Human persons all begin and develop the same way, unless abnormalities interrupt these natural developments. Destroying an embryo at day 14 does not prevent a human from entering into the world, it ends the life a tiny person who already exists. I am not comforted by the creation and "early" destruction of these human-cow embryos, I'm terribly alarmed that the dignity of humans has been seriously violated by people who are repulsed by the same organism at a later stage of development.

This isn't about curing these diseases - do you really think it's going to be made available for free ? But still it is important step because it will uncover secrets of stem cells. And also sometimes to u have to sacrifice something for the sake of research. We have already made researches on rats etc and now it is the turn of humans. Though these researches seems morally unjustified but still it should be continued and it will benefit cancer and other patients after some years.

May be see some mythical units like minataur . And personally , i am waiting for the mermaid.