LivingWell Integrative Healthcare

A few months ago I penned a brief narrative on the silliness of debating the merits of embryonic stem cell research. Well just this week another paper has come out which I feel ends this debate once and for all.

A group of scientists at the University of Japan have found a way of using just 4 chemicals to convert human adult skin cells into pleuripotent stem cells. While these cells are not exact replicas of embryonic stem cells they have most of the capabilities. So what this means is that we can create stem lines of cells that can be used to treat many of the diseases that embryonic stem cells have potential to help. These include MS, Parkinsons Disease, degenerative joint disease and a host of others.

So why “harvest” embryos or create cloned embryos when we can use skin cells as our base cell lines. Hopefully this will end the ethical and moral debate. It makes no sense to insist on such morally heinous practices in the name of research.