Remember all the fuss about embryonic stem cells?

Sir John Gurdon - pic WT

Despite all the hype and controversy over embryonic stem cells, the Nobel Prize has been given for work that proves adult cells can be reprogrammed.  Remember all the fuss about embryonic stem cells? About how the only way to offer hope to millions of people suffering from a plethora of diseases and medical conditions was to harvest stem cells from embryonic human life? About how the destruction of the human embryo was a sad but necessary price to pay for the incalculable advances that could be achieved?

Remember the accusations that were hurled against those who opposed this utilitarian reasoning on ethical grounds, and dared to suggest that there might be an alternative and ethically acceptable route to medical progress?

It has just been announced that Sir John Gurdon of Cambridge University shares this year's Nobel prize for physiology or medicine with Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka. Why? Because they have been at the forefront of research proving that adult cells can be reprogrammed and grown into different bodily tissues. To read more of Fr Stephen Wang's blog Bridges and Tangents, see: 

http://bridgesandtangents.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/despite-hype-and-controversy-over-embryonic-stem-cells-nobel-prize-given-for-work-that-proves-adult-cells-can-be-reprogrammed/