Pat Robertson Claims Scientists Attempting to 'Make a Mouse Human' Using Aborted Fetal Tissue

Televangelist Pat Robertson has claimed scientists are attempting to "make a mouse human" using aborted fetal tissue, adding that "Adolf Hitler never did anything as bad as this."

The comments were made Tuesday on Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) show, The 700 Club, after the program aired an emotional report concerning fetal tissue being used in scientific experiments.

The segment mentioned a study involving mice and fetal reproductive tract tissue. It did not mention the aim of the research, which appears to be studying the effects of synthetic hormones on female reproductive tracts, rather than creating human-mice hybrids.

The segment also contained interviews with anti-abortion activists, including one who mentioned a cancelled study that involved "humanizing mice."

"I'm sure a lot of people will be shocked when they learn of these experiments," said CBN anchor John Jessup, who introduced the segment.

"Well, they're no more shocked than I am," replied the 89-year-old Robertson.

"Ladies and gentlemen, can you imagine—our government funding a human mouse experiment, baby parts aborted," said Robertson. "$120 million they spent with your money, I mean this is monstrous, this is something out of a nightmare."

"Even Adolf Hitler didn't do anything as bad as this. This is horrible."

Robertson explained that his complaint was not just with the research using fetal tissue, which he seems to believe "encourages late term abortions," but also the idea that scientists were attempting to create a kind of "human mouse" hybrid. He did not explain his reason for suggesting this, or a reason scientists would want to create a sentient "human mouse" creature.

"It's just an absolute nightmare, ladies and gentlemen," he continued. "Write your congressman and say look—I just don't think as a United States government, we should be spending taxpayer money. It isn't just that they're encouraging late term abortions and paying doctors for baby parts, but that they're marrying... trying to make a mouse human? A human mouse? I mean this is horrible, I don't know what to say."

"Humanized mice" experiments do exist, but scientists say they involve grafting individual human genes or tissues onto mice, largely in order to develop drugs and treatments that might be useful for humans. The experiments do not aim to "make a mouse human," and instead create mice with limited human traits to be used for research.

The "humanized mice" definitively remain mice. No scientist is believed to have attempted to put human brain tissue into the skull of a mouse, and there's no reason to think anything similar to that would be likely. The prospect of a "human mouse," with the implicit ability to think or act like a human, remains a far-fetched notion.