Mouse stem cells. Shinya Yamanaka / AP
Sid Passman sent me a copy of this article by Michael Kinsley in Time magazine. It makes the point that the pluripotent cell recently produced by genetic modifications of human skin cells may not prove as useful as hoped, and require further research and development. Even the researchers responsible say embryonic stem cell research should continue. Moreover years have been lost due to the Bush administration's wrongheaded policy. Voters will have long memories.
I seems to me that a big ethical problem for the embryonic stem cell researchers has been missed. If one can in fact produce pluripotent stem cells by genetic modification of skin cells, is that not a big step on the way to producing embryos from genetically modified skin cells. Would such embryos be "conceived"? What would be ethical use and disposal of such embryos?
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