Human organs grown in pigs: Scientists let hybrid embryos develop in lab for 28 days in bid to solve transplant shortage  

• Scientists have successfully combined human stem cells and pig DNA 
• Embryos put in living pigs and made to grow for 28 days before destroyed
• Critics have dubbed it ‘Frankenscience’ and ‘offensive to human dignity’
• 1,000 people in the UK die every year while waiting for a organ transplant 

By BEN SPENCER MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 22:57 GMT, 5 June 2016 | UPDATED: 01:14 GMT, 6 June 2016

Pig-human embryos have been created in a dramatic bid to solve the organ transplant shortage.

Scientists have successfully combined human stem cells and pig DNA - with the aim of growing a human organ inside a pig.

But critics say the development of such hybrids is ‘offensive to human dignity’.

The ‘chimera’ embryos have been implanted in living sows and allowed to grow for 28 days before being tested and destroyed.

The idea is that if such an embryo matured inside an adult pig, the foetus would have an organ inside made from human cells. This could then be harvested and transplanted into a patient.

Experts are bitterly divided over the ethical implications of the breakthrough and the boundaries of genetic research.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3626562/Scientists-let-hybrid-embryos-develop-lab-28-days-bid-solve-transplant-shortage.html