Topline

 The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted along party lines to kill a Republican amendment to a technological development bill aimed at banning experiments to create “certain types of human-animal chimeras” – which scientists use to further medical research – over ethical concerns.

Key Facts

The amendment, proposed by Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), failed with 48 Republicans voting for it, 49 Democrats voting against it and Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) not voting.

The amendment defines “human-animal chimera,” as various combinations of human and non-human DNA, such as a human embryo “into which… nonhuman cells… have been introduced,” making the species of the embryo “uncertain.”

Another definition is a “nonhuman life form” that is “engineered” to exhibit “human facial features or other bodily morphologies to resemble human features.’

The amendment would have imposed either 10 years imprisonment or a fine of at least $1,000,000 – or both – for even attempting to create a human-animal chimera.

Braun, who is staunchly anti-abortion, said in a statement “human life is distinct and sacred,” and that such experiments are “unethical” and “should be a crime.”

The bill was endorsed by a slate of pro-life groups including National Right To Life, Susan B. Anthony List and the Family Research Council.

Key Background

Scientists have spent decades creating chimeras to improve the testing of drugs and boost organ transplant research. But even within the scientific community, debates have raged about the relative “humanity” of chimeras and whether they are ethical.

Chief Critic

"There is a way to genetically engineer both the embryo and the stem cells so that the stem cells will only make a particular organ," bioethicist Insoo Hyun told NPR. "Nobody wants a chimeric embryo to grow into a part-human, part-animal thing that has human cells from head to toe mixed in."

Tangent

Another bizarre development in the Senate on Thursday was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to reverse the unanimous confirmation of Christine Wormuth as the first female secretary of the army earlier in the night. While Schumer’s move appeared to be merely procedural, it remains unclear if and when Wormuth will get a confirmation vote, and what the underlying motivation was. Forbes has reached out to Schumer’s office for comment.