The upshot of all this is that the stem-cell hypothesis of cancer growth looks a good one.

ECONOMIST: Cancer therapy

The first solid evidence implicating stem cells in cancer came in the early 1990s when John Dick, a stem cell researcher at the University of Toronto, developed a method for transplanting cancerous human bone marrow cells into mice.

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The other interesting aspect of the stem-cell link is that it was inspired by work outside the mainstream of the huge cancer-research industry: stem-cell research is now a huge field in its own right.

ECONOMIST: Medicine: Shooting down cancer | The

Like many of the numbers being tossed about in the stem-cell debate, this count is inflated by emotion: Langevin included all patients suffering from cancer, juvenile diabetes, heart disease and even arthritis as potential beneficiaries of the research.

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