Fetal stemcell research now ok (sort of)

Obama is going to ease restrictions on fetal stemcell research...well, lets be honest. He's going to ease restrictions on government funded fetal stemcell research. The truth is, stemcell research has not really been hampered by lack of government funding. To quote the USA today story linked to in the title:

Work didn't stop. Indeed, it advanced enough that this summer, the private Geron Corp. will begin the world's first study of a treatment using human embryonic stem cells, in people who recently suffered a spinal cord injury.

So why, in these troubled economic times, when everyone is looking at ways to save money, is Obama opening up the federal coffers to researchers who have little need of the additional funding? And that ignores another branch of stemcell research, one that is far ahead of fetal stemcell research, at least in some areas: adult stemcell research.


Osiris Therapeutics, a seventeen year old company who has long been in the forefront of adult stemcell research, sees no reason to change direction with the change federal opinion. They have several therapies currently in clinical trial using adult stemcells, and may even have one FDA approved before all the details of how federal money would be allocated for fetal stemcell research are ironed out.

It's been several years since I read that evidence showed adult stemcells could be used to form cell types other than the types in the organ they came from - that is the only major advantage of fetal stemcells, they can become any cell type in the body. So if adult stemcells can also become any type of cell in the body, why are we wasting money on a highly controversial and unnecessary technology?

If you want to learn a little more about the issue of fetal stemcells and adult stemcells a good brief look at it can be found at the governments own stemcell info site Stem Cell Information