The only person on the six-person panel who disagreed was a rabbi. For those who don't subscribe to Cell and stopped paying attention in 8th grade biology class after the fetal pig was fully dissected, stem cells are cells derived from early stage embryos. Stem cells can be potentially transformed into any tissue in the human body, such as liver cells, heart cells, or neurons. As such, they are potentially useful for repairing damaged organs.
Scientists currently rely on surplus embryos from fertility clinics to supply their research.
But they hope in the future to be able to create immunologically compatible tissues by cloning embryos using the nuclei from patients' own cells. That requires the creation of embryos specifically for this purpose. Which raises the ire of the anti-abortion crowd. While actual human cloning research has long been decried by the feds, research on stem cells for therapeutic purposes enjoyed tacit support from the Clinton administration. That's changed now that the Republicans are in charge of all three branches of federal government.