“THE operation was a success but the patient died,” goes the old joke.
Thankfully, no one has died in the American trial at the centre of the furore
over fetal cell transplants
(see “Catastrophe or cure?”).
But five people did develop side effects. Should we be alarmed?
The surgeons say no: the problem has been exaggerated by a scaremongering
press, they claim. Their European colleagues say no—but on the grounds
that the Americans employed surgical techniques and grafts nobody else uses.
Others say we should all simply grow up and acknowledge that without risk there
can be no…
