A critical point that is too often missed in the debate over stem cell therapies in the United States is that so-called adult stem cells (ASCs) have shown great success in doing the very things that advocates of embryonic stem cell (ESC) harvesting hope to achieve with ESCs.
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Research has shown that stem cells from umbilical cord blood, when matched genetically to the patient, do not tend to trigger an attack from the patient's immune system. This is in distinct contrast to ESCs, which tests have shown to form tumors when injected into humans or laboratory animals.
It would be nice if this got out in the mainstream media...
It's not just the success of such ethical stem cell harvesting techniques that should be lauded but their comparative success against embryonic stem cell therapies. Once people understand that the great interest in adult cell therapies is there because adult cell therapies are much more likely to work, advocates for embryonic stem cells will face a much tougher audience.
Wasn't there a report this week (not in the mainstream media, of course)...that South Korean doctors had treated a paralyzed women with umbilical stem cells....and she's walking now!!??