Stem-cell research

Stem-cell research
Feb 9th 2009 From Economist.com

Most cells can only serve specific purposes. But stem cells can be coaxed to do many different things. Treatments using them are being developed for a range of diseases—most notably cancer—though actual therapies are perhaps over a decade away.
The most versatile stem cells used in research usually come from human embryos, created by somatic nuclear transfer (“cloning”) or parthenogenesis. These processes raise ethical dilemmas that are sparking intense political debate in America and Britain. For eight years under George Bush, America’s government declined to fund new embryonic stem-cell research, but Barack Obama has promised to reverse the ban. An American firm may also have found a way to make embryonic stem cells without upsetting anybody, while others are researching an uncontroversial type of stem cell, used to repair the body rather than to form a new one. Other leaders in the field, including Britain, China, Singapore and South Korea, permit cloning for the creation of embryonic stem cells.