Unwarranted roadblocks curb stem cell use progress
Published: January 18, 2010
Michigan voters in 2008 approved a constitutional amendment that cleared legal barriers in Michigan to the use of embryonic stem cells in medical research. While medical research and treatment using adult stem cells has been widely available since the 1960s, these adult cells are already differentiated and unable to form any more than one or two types of cells. The embryonic cells used by fertility clinics and discarded, however, can form 200 types of cells that exist in the human body because they originate from undifferentiated cells. Scientists using these discarded cells are finding therapies to treat and cure devastating diseases such as spinal cord injuries, diabetes and Parkinson’s.

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