The draft of the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill would allow scientists to create a chimeric embryo by injecting cells from an animal into a human embryo, and a human transgenic embryo by injecting animal DNA into a human embryo. The first somatic cell nuclear transfer is named after the chimera - the fire-breathing female monster of Greek mythology who had a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.

On a biological level the pre-natal being is not like any other tissue: it is human with its own DNA indicating that, as a human, it has the same fundamental and moral right to life as any other human being. The proposed therapy performed on early human embryos is immoral because it alters forever the basic genetic constitution of the person and all of his or her future offspring.

Amazingly, though embryonic stem cell experiments have failed to produce a single, unqualified, therapeutic success, even in animal models, supporters of the embryonic model continue to laud their unproven and currently unethical methods and ignore the fact that adult stem cell therapies are being used extensively today in treating diseases.

We must help those who are suffering, but we may not use a good end to justify an evil means. Human beings are not raw materials to be exploited or commodities that can be bought and sold. To suggest otherwise is to endorse a macabre interpretation of progress. Pure and simple this latest method of genetic manipulation is nothing more than Frankenstein science.