US denies patent for part-human hybrid

February 14, 2005 | Source: Boston Globe

The US Patent and Trademark Office rejected a claim in a patent on a laboratory-conceived creature that is part human and part animal, saying the hybrid — designed for use in medical research but not yet created — would be too closely related to a human to be patentable.

The decision leaves a crucial question unanswered: At what point is something too human to patent?

The inventor, Stuart Newman of New York Medical College, described a technique for combining human embryo cells with cells from the embryo of a monkey, ape, or other animal to create a blend of the two — what scientists call a chimera.