When the embryo is a few days old, they then would extract the stem cells, which would be genetically identical to the patient's and therefore theoretically overcome problems of transplant rejection. Transplants often fail because the body recognizes the donated organ as foreign and uses the immune system to fight it as if it were an invader. Since human stem cells were isolated in a lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the first time in 1998, advances in the field have come rapidly. Scientists have been able to extract stem cells from embryos and grow them until they become sorted into muscle cells and neurons. They also have been able to make bone marrow cells turn into liver cells, offering hope that cells from adults can be made to regress and redirect themselves to form different types, without the need to create an embryo.
Scientists believe research in embryonic stem cells is vital to getting that breakthrough.
Britain allows scientists to conduct research on embryos up to 14 days old for certain disorders, but does not allow them to be created by cloning. In its report published today, the expert panel proposed keeping the 14-day rule and introducing new legislation to reinforce the nation's ban on creating cloned babies. Cloning should be allowed only if there were no other way to conduct the research, the report said. Opponents were quick to denounce the report's recommendations. It is a further trivialization of human life.