Researchers Report Growing Stem Cells From Dead Embryos

Source: Washington Post
Posted: September 23, 2006

Summary:

Researchers report they have cultivated a colony of human embryonic stem cells from an apparently dead embryo, a strategy some have suggested might be less controversial than conventional approaches that require the destruction of living embryos. But other stem cell scientists and ethicists quickly raised a host of reasons that the advance may have little practical impact on the stormy research field. Among them are concerns that cells from dead embryos may be genetically abnormal, and the lack of a definitive test for proving that an embryo has no lingering potential for life.

Commentary: Maybe this will end the ethical debate over embryonic stem cell research, but as the summary states, the true impact of this finding remains to be seen and will likely continue to be fiercely debated.