Chinese Scientists Create Mice – And Controversy – From Skin Cells

Two separate teams of Chinese scientists have provided powerful evidence that stem cells derived from adult tissues offer a significant alternative to controversial embryonic stem cells. Working in Beijing and Shanghai, the scientists in effect “tricked” skin cells from adult mice to act like embryonic stem cells. They were then able to create genetically identical offspring, an accomplishment that also raises the equally controversial specter of human cloning and so-called designer babies. Nevertheless, opponents of embryonic stem cell research see the findings as an alternative technology that would avoid the destruction of human embryos while offering the hope of stem cell-based therapies.

By Rob Stein, “Researchers May Have Found Equivalent of Embryonic Stem Cells”, The Washington Post, Friday, July 24, 2009, © The Washington Post