Opponents of embryonic stem cell research, which involves destroying the donated embryos from which cell lines are derived, have long argued that the discovery of iPS cells in 2006 (for which Shinya Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine this past year) obviates the need for embryonic stem cell research.
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Palin, an evangelical Christian, opposes embryonic stem cell research because it involves the use of human embryos, but her running mate, GOP presidential nominee McCain, does support stem cell research involving embryos.
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The connection is that embryos for stem cell research primarily come from fertility clinics.
If I understand the tetraploid complementation technique utilized in these experiments correctly, then, scientists would no longer need to generate embryos via somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning).
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Last month, Prof Wilmut announced that he was abandoning the cloning of human embryos in stem cell research in favour of a new technique developed in Japan.
For those who object to the destruction of embryos for stem cell research, this represents an unacceptable end run around the intent of the original research ban.
Scientists working on embryos say that stem cell research is in its infancy and not enough is known about the potential of either adult or embryonic stem cells to abandon one approach in favour of the other.
Mr Bush said finance would be restricted to existing stem cell lines from embryos that had already been destroyed.
But creating a stem cell requires destroying embryos when they are five-day-old balls of a hundred cells, such as fertilized eggs discarded after an in vitro fertilization.
Groups opposed to stem cell work on embryos say the use of embryos is immoral and unnecessary, because the procedure destroys the embryo and because an alternative is available.
Bush had earlier met Pope John Paul II and he said he would take the pope's rejection of stem cell research using embryos into consideration when he decides whether to allow funding for the controversial practice.
Current rules put in place by the Clinton administration allow federal money for stem-cell research using embryos provided the work is funded by private money and the embryos come from fertility clinics and would otherwise be discarded.
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Scientists are keen to use stem-cell research on cloned embryos as a way of curing several previously untreatable diseases.
Some lawmakers have talked of passing new legislation to nullify Judge Lamberth's ruling and clarify that stem-cell research derived from embryos is allowed.
The basic techniques of human embryo creation that Dr. Edwards pioneered form the technical foundation of in vitro fertilization, human cloning techniques, genetic screening of human embryos and embryonic-stem-cell research.
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They then began to divide into embryos, but none grew past the six-cell stage.
The problem is that making them using somatic-cell nuclear transfer involves breaking up viable embryos, since the cells in question are found inside early-stage embryos, called blastocysts.
The cell taken from the Hashmi's embryos is also being tested for signs of thalassaemia - to make sure the new child does not carry the same disease.
Embryonic stem cell research involves collecting undifferentiated cells from embryos.
Embryonic stem cells are blank cells found in four- to five-day-old embryos, which have the ability to turn into any cell in the body.
Last year, Bush responded to a questionnaire from the U.S. Catholic Conference with this question: What is your position on using federal funds for research that involves the destruction of live human embryos to obtain their cells for experimentation (embryonic stem cell research)?
Other groups, such as anti-abortion activists, consider stem cell research the taking of a human life because embryos must be destroyed to harvest the stem cells.
One iPS cell line was particularly effective: 20 out of 151 embryos yielded adult mice, which were fully composed of iPS derived cells over 90% of the time.
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Stem-cell research dates to 1981 and started out with mouse embryos, which researchers used to study the effects of individual genes and to try treating disease in mice.
President Clinton took office in 1993 and lifted that ban, but in 1994 he ceded some ground to the anti-stem-cell crowd by blocking the use of federal money to create embryos for research.
Thinking about whether the research should go forward very much depends on one's view of the status of human embryos and how that ought to be weighed against the promise of stem cell research.
While Mr Bush argues that creating new stem cell stocks would be unethical because it involves the destruction of embryos, Mr Kerry has declared that one would be "respecting life" by using the technology to try to find cures for diseases.
The amendment would grant full legal protection to embryos and foetuses and could outlaw some forms of birth control, stem-cell research and possibly in vitro fertilisation.
But Josephine Quintavalle, founder of the public interest group Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE) described the use of human embryos for therapeutic treatment as "quite horrifying, " and said that stem cell research should focus on the use of adult stem cells.
Once you've got them, you don't need to destroy any more embryos, but each time you get a new one of these embryonic stem-cell lines, you need to destroy an embryo.
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