July 28, 2004

Fetal Cells Offer Hope In China. In Beijing, fetal stem cells are being used to treat victims of paralysis and Lou Gehrig's disease.
  • ooooooooooooooooh!
  • Huh?
  • Because it is filtered through the newspress, it is hard to tell what science has been editted versus what the doctors understand that the injection of fetal cells does, but it seems to me that they seem a little hesitant. I had thought that stem cell research was still very tentative. Anyone know more to enlighten me?
  • The article is frustrating. I gather that they've had successes by using stem cells extracted from aborted fetal tissue, and that fetal stem cell therapy in China is further along than it is here. I'm going to try to find more on this later. Here's another interesting piece on fetal stem cells: Fetuses give mothers a gift of cells, study. If pregnant women could become stem cell donors that would circumvent much of the ethical debates. Oh course, there's still much promise with adult stem cells.