RENEWED controversy has broken out over the abilities of adult stem cells, whose apparent potential has generated much excitement.
It has long been known that there are different kinds of adult stem cells in the body that give rise to particular tissues: new blood cells, say. But recent studies have shown that a few adult stem cells can transform themselves into a much wider range of specialised cells. The way suddenly appeared open for doctors to turn a patient’s adult stem cells into matched tissues for treating diseases, avoiding the ethical and practical problems of using embryonic stem cells.
Now…
