Monday, August 22, 2016

“Will Embryonic Stem Cells Ever Cure Anything?”

“Will Embryonic Stem Cells Ever Cure Anything?” is a skeptical headline which
you would expect to read in a conservative journal like the National Review or the Weekly Standard. However, it is a bit surprising to find it in the MIT Technology Review, in a profile of Douglas Melton, a Harvard stem cell scientist. 

From the article — “No field of biotechnology has promised more and delivered less in the way of treatments than embryonic stem cells. Only a handful of human studies has ever been carried out, without significant results. The cells, culled from IVF embryos, are capable of developing into any other tissue type in the body, and therefore promise an unlimited supply of replacement tissue. Sounds simple, but it hasn’t been.” (Michael Cook, Bioedge)