5 Fascinating Facts about Human-Monkey Chimeras and Their Potential Benefits for Healthcare

JAKARTA – In a controversial study, scientists United States of America (USA) has created mixed beings human-monkey which is able to survive for 20 days before finally being destroyed.

The project involving chimera embryos was led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a gene expression expert from the Salk Institute in California.

Together with his team, they succeeded in implanting human stem cells into several monkey embryos which then grew for 20 days.

1. Controversy and Questions of Ethics

The success of this research led to various controversies and questions about the ethics and legal status of these mixed beings if they were to survive.

A number of other scientists criticized the project and doubted the sustainability of this kind of research. However, Belmonte and his team argue that this research has the potential to be useful in uncovering the secrets of developmental and evolutionary biology, as well as being a solution to the human organ crisis.

They saw the importance of better models to more accurately study and understand human biology and disease.

2. Potential Benefits to Human Health