Review 2006: No embryos were harmed…

IF ONLY there were a way to produce embryonic stem cells (ESCs) without destroying an embryo. In August, Bob Lanza and his colleagues at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts, said they could do just that, and so sidestep the ethical disputes that have plagued ESC research. The team showed how to generate ESCs from single cells called blastomeres; such cells are routinely taken from IVF embryos – without killing the embryo – to test for serious genetic diseases. Unfortunately the researchers then became mired in an unholy row, when critics of ESC research pointed out that no embryos had…