Bob Lanza, chief scientist at Advanced Cell Technology, had this to say about stem cell therapies: "Some time in the future, perhaps in the lifetime of most of your readers, you'll get in an accident and lose a kidney and they will take a skin cell and just grow you up a new organ. That field is just roaring ahead."
Advanced Cell Technology was cleared in November by the US Food and Drug Administration to begin testing a therapy derived from embryonic stem cells to treat a rare form of blindness that strikes in childhood, known as Stargardt's disease.
Almost every week we hear about stem cell therapies being responsible for curing diseases in both humans and animals. Only recently did we hear of a man cured of HIV and leukemia in Berlin, Germany. Of course there have been setbacks as well, but this is why more research must be done, especially with embryonic stem cells.
But the benefits are now being seen and they are increasing. Hope is no longer a flickering light, but a steady beam shining ever brighter. And the source is stem cell research.
Let it roar ahead, indeed!
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