Linda MacDonald Glenn presented on legal and ethical issues surrounding the creation of chimeras and cyborgs. She discussed current developments in transgenics and examples of mixing human and animal cells. She also explored definitions of humanity, personhood, and how entities have been viewed as property or persons under the law. Glenn concluded that as new lifeforms are created, intense debate will be needed on their legal and moral status.

1. When Pigs Fly?: Legal and Ethical Issues in the Creation of Chimeras and Cyborgs Linda MacDonald Glenn Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics Palo Alto September 24, 2003

4. Part 1 – Current Developments in Transgenics and Chimeras

5. Flying Pigs?

7. A. Amherst, Massachusetts: Human cells were inserted into cows’ eggs at Advanced Cell Technology to make cloned human embryos TRUE

8. B. Seoul, Korea: Human embryonic cells were inserted into mouse embryos at Maria Biotech resulting in the birth of “hu-mice” rodents having some human genes TRUE

9. C . Bethesda, Maryland: Human genes were injected into rat embryos at the National Institutes of Mental Health resulting in a colony of intelligent rats New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, 1971 FALSE

10. D . Cambridge, England: Human white blood cells were injected into frog eggs at Cambridge University transforming the human cells into embryo-like cells with stem cell properties Frog eggs rejuvenate human cells Nature Science Update July 15, 2003 John Gurdon at Cambridge University injected Xenopus frog eggs with nuclei from adult human white blood cells, “reprogramming” them to behave in a stem cell-like way. TRUE

15. Nonhuman animal – machine interface(s)

21. Part 2 – Ethical Definitions

30. Part 3 Legal Implications

40. Conclusions and Recommendations

41. The Great Chain of Being will yield to an alternative Pyramid of Being (Moral Paradigm) God Angels Humanity Animals Plants Earth Humanity/Personhood

44. Property-Personhood Continuum (Proposed Legal Paradigm) Property (Inanimate Objects) Full Personhood (Attendant rights & responsibilities) Quasi-property (Chimeric Humanoids) Fetuses Embryos Ex Utero Cyborgs Androids A/I Negative Liberties Biotechnology at the Margins of Personhood: An Evolving Legal Paradigm, J. of Evolution and Technology Cognitively impaired

45. For the future: Expect intense cross-disciplinary debate, discussion, as new intelligent life is created through biotechnology .