Lab Cites Stem Cell Advance

[Dale_M]

Scientists in Massachusetts said yesterday that they had created several colonies of human embryonic stem cells without harming the embryos from which they were derived, the latest in a series of advances that could speed development of stem-cell-based treatments for a variety of diseases.

In June, scientists in Japan and Wisconsin said they had made cells very similar to embryonic stem cells from adult skin cells, without involving embryos. But that technique so far requires the use of gene-altered viruses that contaminate the cells and limit their biomedical potential.

By contrast, the new work shows for the first time that healthy, normal embryonic stem cells can be cultivated directly from embryos without destroying them.

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/10/AR2008011001971.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

But the head of the NIH Stem Cell Task Force said that the technique was unlikely to qualify for federal funding since there is no guarantee that the embryo is unharmed. The only way to test that would be to implant embryos treated in such a manner in women and allow normal growth to occur - which would be unethical.

 

[SILVERNAME]

These scientists should abandon all embryo related stem cell research, it simply isn’t justifiable.

Adult stem cell research has resulted in cures for so many diseases, while ESCR has achieved nothing except the murder and mutilation of babies.

ESCR should be banned and be considered a criminal offense punishable with 30 years in prison.

Adult stem cell research is the way to go, it is moral and it is effective, ESCR is neither.