Arizona Senate Passes Human-Animal Hybrid Bill

Arizona's state legislature, having solved all of the state's other problems with its recent anti-immigration bill, decided to tackle the apparently urgent problem of human-animal hybrids. The bill passed by the AZ Senate provides, in pertinent part:

A. A person shall not intentionally or knowingly create or attempt to create an in vitro human embryo by any means other than fertilization of a human egg by a human sperm.
B. A person shall not intentionally or knowingly:
1. Create or attempt to create a human-animal hybrid.
2. Transfer or attempt to transfer a human embryo into a nonhuman womb.
3. Transfer or attempt to transfer a nonhuman embryo into a human womb.
4. Transport or receive for any purpose a human-animal hybrid.

The Arizona bill is remarkably similar to the Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act of 2009, introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Brownback. The Arizona version includes language exempting research involving transgenetic animal models containing human genes and xenotransplantation of human organs, neither of which was found in Senator Brownback's bill. While this is a laudable improvement protecting some research, the bill is still aimed at curtailing scientific progress. The broad language, part (B)(1) in particular, could cover a wide variety of potentially lifesaving research.

Laws limiting scientific freedom should be avoided at all costs. Arizona is free not to fund such research, but the state shouldn't outlaw it altogether. If such laws absolutely must be passed, it should handled at the national level, not by a patchwork of state laws.


Hat tip to Politico: Arizona legislature targets 'human-animal hybrids'