Editors' picks from ETO Scout: volume 8 (2/9/24-2/22/24)

Each week, a CSET expert offers insight into recent news from Scout. Today's viewpoint is from Research Analyst Vikram Venkatram.

“Medical researchers often need to test potential therapeutics, model disease outcomes, or perform other trials in animals to avoid experiments involving human patients. However, animals are different from humans, which can lead to misleading results. One solution to this problem is to create a “chimera,” an organism with cells, tissues, or organs from both animals and humans. This past month, Scout featured a set of guidelines released by China’s National Science and Technology Ethics Committee (“Institutions engaged in research on human-non-human animal chimeras should establish an ethical review committee,” 02/11/2024) that shines a light on China’s approach to the use of human-non-human animal chimeras. The new guidelines require that institutions involved in chimera research establish their own ethics review committees and respect the decision-making, privacy, and informed consent of those who donate human biological material. They also emphasize five ethical principles—benefit, risk control, respect for autonomy, scientific necessity, and fairness—posing an interesting contrast to the four commonly cited bioethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. These guidelines broadly track mainstream bioethical perspectives, but enforcement and implementation will be key to watch.”