What with ‘designer’ babies and genetic engineering, we have become accustomed to developments that previously would have been banned as ‘Frankenstein science’.
Nevertheless, the revelation this week that a monkey has received a head transplant using a technique that is almost ready to be tried on humans retains its power to shock.
Neuroscientists in China are said to have taken a major step towards that goal by decapitating two rhesus monkeys and connecting the head of one animal to the other’s body.
The news was publicised by Sergio Canavero, a controversial Italian neurosurgeon and associate of the Chinese team, who said the success of the new method used paved the way towards a repeat operation — involving humans.
‘The news is not so much the monkey transplant,’ he said. ‘Everyone in the media is saying: “Hey man, it’s a head transplant on a monkey” — but this has already been done 40 years ago.
‘The important news here is that the critics of this new method have been totally disproven.’
Why is this significant? Because Dr Canavero is the same man who sparked a global storm last year when he revealed his determination to attempt a human head transplant.
He is planning to remove the head of a patient with muscular atrophy and attach it to a freshly decapitated donor body, to give his volunteer a physically fit body.
British experts in surgery and ethics were quick to condemn the proposal. However, Dr Canavero declared: ‘The world will never be the same again.