Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Date: July 18, 2009
Summary:
The San Francisco Chronicle reports researchers have discovered that placentas contain stem cells that can treat blood diseases:
"Bay Area researchers have found that human placentas - typically tossed as medical waste after birth - are full of the kind of stem cells that can treat leukemia and dozens of other diseases of the blood. Placental stem cells, much like the cells retrieved from umbilical cord blood, do not have the broad potential of embryonic stem cells that can turn into nearly any kind of tissue or organ in the body. But they can replace some cells and help rebuild entire systems damaged by disease."
