Huge discovery alters stem cell research

November 21, 2007

Australia is moving away from controversial therapeutic cloning on the back of major international stem cell work that could bypass the need for embryos to be destroyed.

Two separate teams of researchers from the United States and Japan have announced they have re-programmed skin cells into cells that mimic embryonic stem cells. The breakthrough could make possible the long-sought goal of using human cells to fight disease, without the political, scientific and ethical implications of using human embryos. (The Sydney Morning Herald)