First do no harm

Life News | Researchers may have discovered a way around the embryonic stem-cell debate—and other life issues to watch | Lynn Vincent

Mother lode

Scientists at Wake Forest University and Harvard University reported on Jan. 7 a discovery that not only promises many of the same therapeutic benefits touted by advocates of embryonic stem-cell research, but the possibility of sidestepping that particular controversy altogether. University researchers announced that they had drawn stem cells from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women and turned them into several different tissue cell types, including liver, brain, and bone. While embryonic stem-cell research destroys developing embryos, the new procedure harmed neither mother nor fetus.

Harvard University stem-cell researcher George Daley said the finding may mean expectant parents could someday freeze amnio stem cells for use in generating replacement tissue in a sick child, without fear of tissue rejection. But Daley was also quick to assert that the discovery of amnio stem cells does not mean embryonic stem-cell research should end. "While they are fascinating subjects of study in their own right, they are not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells, which allow scientists to address a host of other interesting questions in early human development," said Daley, who began work last year to clone human embryos to produce stem cells.