Ohio Senate OKs Ban on Human-Animal Hybrids

By Lawrence D. Jones, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, June 03, 2010

Ohio's Senate voted 24-8 on Wednesday to pass legislation prohibiting the creation, transportation, or receipt of a human-animal hybrid, the transfer of a nonhuman embryo into a human womb, and the transfer of a human embryo into a nonhuman womb.

Though the latest version of the bill, S.B. 243, does not ban human cloning as an earlier one had, it was still hailed by pro-family and Christian groups as "vital legislation" amid "outrageous" advancements in science.

"Ohio Christian Alliance believes that no human life should begin and end as the subject of an experiment," the organization stated following Wednesday's vote.

"We attest that a process that knowingly encourages human life to be created, manipulated for research, and ultimately destroyed is immoral and should be prohibited," it added.

For this and other reasons, OCA said it worked for the past seven years with members of the Ohio Legislature to ban embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and in recent years, animal-human hybrid.

And for the past three years, OCA worked with State Senator Steve Buehrer (R-Delta) and other members of the Ohio Senate to introduce S.B. 243, which – until recently – also banned human cloning.

Though the original bill was eventually stripped down to help move it forward and to broaden its appeal, OCA still commended sponsors of the final legislation and said "[a]ll who believe that human life, including nascent human life, is a unique and precious gift from our Creator have an obligation to support efforts to ban it."

"Science has advanced to the point where DNA from animals and humans can be intermixed in scientific laboratory experimentation. This is simply outrageous," exclaimed OCA President Chris Long in a statement.

Following Wednesday's vote, the bill now moves to the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives for further consideration.

S.B. 243 was first introduced on March 18, 2010.