"Miracle" Mice

I have mixed feelings about a news report in "The Australian" about how scientists have created genetically-altered mice which are able to regenerate limbs, heal damaged organs, etc. It's the stuff of science fiction. The best part is that normal mice have developed the same regenerative potential after an injection of cells from the altered mice. If we could learn to apply this to humans, think of the possibilities!

I'm no animal-rights activist, but I'm deeply disturbed by the research procedures:

• "We have experimented with amputating or damaging several different organs, such as the heart, toes, tail and ears, and just watched them regrow," [Ellen Heber-Katz] said. "It is quite remarkable. The only organ that did not grow back was the brain."

Yikes. :-( I hope for their own sakes that the researches feel a pang of guilt or regret as they inflict these mutilations.

Even if you support creating genetically-altered humans to harvest their cells, how could you test whether it worked? Is there any way this research could be done without such cruelty? Is the cruelty justified when it's only a mouse? I could probably make an academic case for it, but I doubt I could convince my gut.