Chimera. The word itself has an ominous ring because of its Greek mythology origin and growing prominence in current TV, video games and movies.
Originally, the Chimera was a fire-breathing beast comprising parts of several animals.
In Mission Impossible II (2000) it was the name of a horrific virus created by a pharmaceutical company to generate market demand for the company’s antidote Bellerophon and hijacked by pure evil, if there is anything more evil than “Big Pharma.” Bellerophon, of course, was the Greek hero who slayed the Chimera.
The pop culture references are numerous, and rarely positive.
Now, the term is being applied to an incredible scientific advancement that is sure to be about as controversial as controversial gets.
Last week, a team of researchers led by the Salk Institute announced they have successfully introduced human cells into a non-human organism, in this case a pig embryo that survived for four weeks.
This is nothing short of remarkable, but the resulting achievement has the unfortunate label of chimera. From a scientific standpoint, chimera is merely an organism that contains the cells of two (or more) species. Naming scientific concepts after mythological monsters is probably a bad practice from a public relations standpoint because the media never fails to seize upon sensationalist opportunities and the public tends toward over-reaction.
Even National Geographic could not help itself from using “Human-Pig Hybrid” in the headline and chimera in the subhead. Other less reputable outlets went as far as to say scientist had created a “Pigman” alternately evoking images of some kind of grotesque beast a la the beloved Seinfeld episode.
In fact, even human-pig hybrid is misleading. While by definition hybrid is a correct term as this organism did contain a mixture of elements from two species, it was essentially a pig with a human component. If one had to use the term, I would suggest pig-human hybrid might be more accurate.
Getting the nomenclature right is important, but more important is the matter of intent. Why did they build this thing to begin with?
Imagine what a boon it would be to medicine if another animal could play host to human organs for transplant.
The National Geographic article cited U.S. statistics that every 10 minutes another person is added to the national waiting list for organs and that every day 22 people on that list die waiting.
The hosting concept has been proven using mice and rats. Also last week, a different group of researchers revealed they had successfully grown mouse pancreases inside rats and were able to cure diabetic mice with parts of those organs.
This is not to say there are not serious ethical considerations. Even I cringed a little at the concept. As with so many scientific discoveries, the potential pitfalls may be unknown.
And it brings up the legitimate animal welfare question of whether it is fair to the pigs, which are highly intelligent creatures.
In any event, it is an exciting announcement with a great deal of potential for the betterment of humanity.
Words matter and the labels in this case are bound to be evocative of a mad and arrogant Dr. Frankenstein unleashing a scourge on the world.
If we can get beyond the headlines and see it for what it really is, it could be one of the greatest medical breakthroughs ever.
