Ben Okri, a Nigerian novelist and poet, once said, “The magician and the politician have much in common: they both have to draw our attention away from what they are really doing."

This technique has been used by magicians since the advent of illusion and magic. This technique is known as sleight of hand. So long as the audience’s attention is drawn away towards something unimportant or simply distracting in the magician’s left hand, the magician’s right hand is free to set up his next trick or accomplish whatever he desires, while his audience continues to watch completely unaware.

Those in the United States, and more than likely those outside of the country also, could easily name at least two political or social issues that have been propagated by the news and media (liberal or conservative) in the last year or two. By propagated I mean fully saturated to the point where nothing else seems to take precedence or be of any value. Can you name one? What comes to my mind is the obvious political rallying and debating of candidacy between presidential nominees, and the restroom policies being argued over in public places as well as school districts.

My point is not that these issues are unimportant entirely. By no means do I intend that to be my message. I simply encourage everyone to open their eyes to what is not being reported in the news or being splashed across Facebook or Twitter.

While the magician is dangling a shiny, glittery scarf in one hand, what is he hiding in the other?

One such issue that seems to have been completely neglected by most Facebook users and television is an ethical one.

Antonio Regalado, the Senior Editor for biomedicine for the MIT Technology Review, released an article this past January titled “Human-Animal Chimeras Are Gestating on U.S. Research Farms.” In this article, Antonio describes how the National Institutes of Health recently revoked funding from studies that involve human-animal genetic hybridizing. The NIH made this announcement in reaction to learning that these studies had been receiving funding from sources such as California’s state stem cell agency.

“Based on interviews with three teams, two in California and one in Minnesota, MIT Technology Review estimates that about 20 pregnancies of pig-human or sheep-human chimeras have been established during the last 12 months in the U.S., though so far no scientific paper describing the work has been published, and none of the animals were brought to term.” (Regalado).

Before freaking out, allow me to clarify. The word chimera is taken from Greek mythology to describe a creature of multiple animals put together. Various scientific companies and laboratories have been experimenting with gene splicing and DNA injection in order to cross species boundaries in living organisms. This includes growing healthy rats that contain mouse organs (such as a livers or hearts), as well as attempts being made to grow human organs for transplants within sheep and pigs.

If funding was only recently pulled, then this issue can be traced back several years during which these scientists have been receiving government and tax-funded dollars to carry out these experiments. Leading cardiologist Daniel Garry of the University of Minnesota received $1.4 million dollars in grant money from the United States Army—in direct violation of NIH policies—to continue chimera research.

While fascinating, the problem with this research is man’s attempt to play God.

What will happen if a pig is grown with too much human DNA in its brain?

Will diseases that have previously only affected animals be able to mutate to affect humans more easily now by first adapting to these species hybrids?

And more importantly, why has the US Army (among other federal and national organizations) been funding this research without so much as mentioning it to the general public?

I ask only that minds that are drawn into the entertainment and excitement of national media make an effort to be more aware of not just what is being said, but what is not being said.