Advocates Hold Out Hope for Stem Cells

[NoAmericanTaliban]

Jan 10, 7:04 PM (ET)

By MALCOLM RITTER

NEW YORK (AP) - Having spent 23 years in a wheelchair, Wall Street analyst Henry Stifel keeps a close eye on spinal cord research. And he says the latest scientific scandal in South Korea has not dimmed his hope that stem cells may one day help people like him.

"Some research was discredited. It doesn't discredit all the research that's been achieved," said Stifel, who is quadriplegic.

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Diabetes, spinal cord injury and Parkinson's disease are among the conditions scientists hope to treat someday by using embryonic stem cells. Officials of disease advocacy groups said Tuesday that they remained optimistic that stem cells will play a role in future treatment.

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Stem cells can also be extracted from ordinary, uncloned human embryos, and advocates say that route could also lead to disease treatments. But that is controversial because it involves destroying the embryos. The Bush administration has banned federal funding for research on stem cell lines developed after August 2001.

That has been the main barrier to embryonic stem cell research in the United States, but the news of Hwang's fraud might give new support to calls for relaxing that ban, said Robin Elliott, executive director of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation......

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20060111/D8F24NBO4.html