“Recent stem cell research advances, heralded as great news by a number of people, have not included the terms ‘clones’ or ‘embryos.’ The primary goal for stem cell research, aside from Nobel prizes, patents and off-the-scale profits, has been therapeutic advances to treat the infirmities of an aging and/or infirm population. Vocal proponents, inside and outside the laboratory, have preferred embryonic stem cells because of their potential to form more kinds of body cells than can adult stem cells. To date, stem cell therapy has been primarily through adult stem cells. Last year at the ‘25 Years of Stem Cells’ conference at Cambridge, Austin Smith looked forward in his talk, and said that the next step would be cloning, because embryonic stem cells, while capable of producing any body tissue, would also produce tissue rejection.” (12/26/07)