BRITISH scientists are planning to create human-rabbit hybrid embryos to speed up research into the causes of inherited conditions such as motor neurone disease and Parkinson's. The controversial work, which involves placing the nucleus of a human cell inside a rabbit egg, is rejected as immoral by churches and anti-cloning campaigners. One of the key ethical problems is whether the hybrid embryo should be treated legally as a human or an animal. Edinburgh University's Professor Ian Wilmut - who created Dolly the Sheep - and colleagues in London believe the hybrids will help them circumvent a shortage of human eggs...