We hope to publish some of this information fairly soon. But we think it'll be fairly impressive. We've also learned a little bit more about how to steer the cells in particular directions, and again I can't go into the details of it, but I think there is progress both from our lab and from other labs that are gradually moving towards our long-term goal of clinical application. Both teams have had to buy their embryonic stem cells from overseas because it's illegal in Australia to take cells from human embryos. The issue was the subject of a parliamentary inquiry into cloning, which is due to report mid-year.
Critics argue that taking stem cells from embryos is unethical and immoral.
But there might be an answer to the controversy. Already several studies have shown that adult stem cells are more flexible than first thought and might eventually be a viable alternative. Dr Rathjen says in the last 12 months scientists have also started thinking about ways of making embryonic stem cells without isolating them from an embryo. That therefore does not involve anything that could be considered the creation of life, nor the destruction of life. If that result is correct, and I should say there are at least six groups in the world, to my knowledge, doing that kind of work, then that would mean that therapeutic cloning would not be necessary.