Hybrid Hysteria

Mainstream media is a joke in my books these days. All to often they go for sensationalist headlines, subtly distorting the facts into something that will sell more copies but misrepresent the true story.

Take for example this headline found on Canoe.ca:

Is tampering with humanity OK?

Hmmmm, seems serious. Check out the sub-headline:

47% APPROVE 'PLAYING GOD'

And:

Cdns support human-animal research

If you have visions of pig-men and talking gorillas in your head, that was the intent I'm sure.

The story is mostly about the poll they had were they asked if people supported animal-human embryo research and how the response changed when people were informed such research could lead to cures for serious diseases. I said mostly? I meant entirely. The only part that provides any real information is this:

The poll was conducted during the first week of September, after British regulators gave the green light for scientists to create hybrid embryos by inserting human DNA into animal eggs in a bid to extract stem cells.

Of course, that sentence leaves out the fact that they completely remove the animal DNA first. To me its like having a bag of potatoes, removing all the potatoes and replacing them with apples. Have I created a potato-apple hybrid food? Of course not, but if they reported it like this polling story you'd certainly think so.

Back to the headlines. In the actual story I searched for 'playing god'. Then just playing. I did find the word 'tampering' in this context:

Anderson said the poll results illustrate that it is not just religious Canadians who are casting a wary eye at the notion of scientists tampering with what it means to be human.

The word 'tampering' was not in the poll questions asked to the public, it was in an opinion statement by the president of the polling company. I think that is misleading in the extreme.

Let's get this straight. This research is not about 'playing god' or 'tampering' with what it means to be human. This is not combining or splicing DNA from different animals. This is about finding new efficient ways to grow stem cells. Period. And if people realized that, this would be a non-story.

Which is exactly why it is not reported that way.