MORE GOOD NEWS! (Well mostly...)  here is a very welcome update from our very own local Bioethics reporter, (Pauline Gately), on stem cell research. .......Thank you Pauline, keep it coming!

“We said cybrid research was rubbish science and it looks like we were right -  you will see from the email below that there is currently no research going on in the UK using human-animal embryos.

Just to remind you what it was like back then:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/18/stemcells.medicalresearch

And  we said there was an alternative which looked far more promising. Just take a look at this, by contrast:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/30/AR2010093007199.html

You may have heard of the start of the first trial on a human subject using human embryonic stem cells. As I understand it, at this stage the aim is not to cure the poor human guinea pig but just to check the method for safety. Curious that they have gone straight from testing on rats to testing on humans without testing on primates first. See:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/10/12/first-patient-is-injected-with-embryonic-stem-cell-treatment/comment-page-1/#comment-346589
and do read the comments.