Glenn Thrush in Politico:
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) — an ardent anti-abortion activist — is worried that the Obama administration’s loosening of restrictions on stem cell research will result in the creation of a new race of bio-engineered “human-animal” hybrid freaks.
Or beautiful mermaids.
The bill — modeled on an inexplicably overlooked effort by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — would ban the creation of “part-human, part-animal creatures, which are created in laboratories, and blur the line between species.”
The legislation, he says, “is limited in scope” and wouldn’t limit the use of some animal parts for human use, including porcine pig valves.
Despite giving no concrete examples of what such hybrids would look like (i.e. Spider-Man), he’s got 20 co-sponsors including one Dem, Mary Landrieu (D-La.).
“As our nation suffers through the greatest economic decline in a generation and our country’s brightest minds are working tirelessly to reverse course, what does Sen. Brownback propose? Banning mermaids,” quipped Chris Harris of Media Matters.
Jason Linkins in HuffPo:
“The legislation, Brownback said, ‘is limited in scope’ and wouldn’t limit the use of some animal parts for human use, including porcine pig valves.” OKAY? Everyone is still allowed to get freaky with some “porcine pig valves.” (Aren’t all “pig valves” porcine?)
Anyway, Brownback called the measure “philosophical and practical.” His worries seem to have stemmed from his “background in agriculture,” where folks have been working to genetically modify soybeans. Naturally, Brownback concluded that if we weren’t careful, this could lead to the rise of the Minotaurs, or a similar Dr. Caligari-type moment where we’d be “setting a time-bomb that might detonate many generations down the line,” which would force the CIA to have to waterboard a human genome until it confessed to the whereabouts of the were-people.
Brownback and Landrieu have twenty co-sponsors for the bill, all of whom should be paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue while citizens mock them and throw pig valves.
Jeroly in Daily Kos:
This doesn’t just affect minotaurs, centaurs and satyrs. It affects human beings too. Genetic research which injects human DNA material into animals or vice versa in order to cure genetic diseases would be prohibited. That cure for cancer you were hoping for? Fuhgeddaboudit! An antidote to ebola infection? No way. The next botox? Keep dreaming.
Let the radical right continue to mythologize Sam Brownback. It’s time for mythological creatures like us to stand up for our rights!!!
UPDATE: Ronald Bailey in Reason
Andrew Stuttaford at Secular Right
