Stem Cell Compromise?
WaTimes – Advanced Cell Technology claims to have found a middle ground – utilizing embryos for research
The company says its technique takes just a single cell, or blastomere, from a two-day-old embryo, after the fertilized egg has divided into eight cells. They use the blastomere to seed a line of stem cells, which can then grow into any kind of human tissue.
As someone who has a lot personally invested in this research, it’s heartening to see some hints of moving forward bypassing the simpleminded moral debate. With the current political climate in mind (without much hope for change in the near future) real solutions are likely to come from outside the US system. Biotech companies (and nonprofits) should be rasing capital and going offshore.
-Shlok
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