This is what I think:
This is just going around in circles.. Help is urgently needed for sick people who can benefit from treatments with these types of cells and researchers should have access to more resources.
This is what the headlines say:
Biologists last week revealed details of two techniques for deriving the cells that do not involve the destruction of a embryo.
The Koreans did therapeutic cloning back in May – Nucleus from donor cell is inserted into an egg stripped of its own genetic material.
‘Ethical’ concerns are too much for some. And as Nature reports religious groups in some countries have restricted research.
“ In Germany, for example, the use of ES cell lines created since January 2002 is illegal and carries a penalty of up to three years in jail. And in the United States, federal funds for ES cell work is only available for a handful of cell lines derived before August 2001.”
The sort of new techniques are:
1) From Rudolf Jaenisch and Alexander Meissner, MIT – Altered nuclear transfer – a gene in the patient’s donated cell is switched off before the nucleus is transferred into a fertilized egg. The resulting egg grows into a blastocyst that won’t be able to implant in a uterus.
2) Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology – PGD in mice.
This is sort of new because Dr. Verlisky from the RGI clinic has been using this in humans for some time now..
Here’s a graphic from The Times describing the PGD advantage:
Stem cell breakthrough opens way to ‘spare part’ tissue banks.