I keep hearing that stem cell research has been banned. Of course, it hasn’t been; all that was “banned” was government funding for embryonic stem cell research. And to me, that’s just fine… because it might drive researchers *from* embryonic stem cell research *to* adult stem cell research.

The difference between the two is vital. Embryonic stem cells might lead to treatments, but the transplantation of cells from someone else will lead to a lifetime on anti-rejection drugs, leaving the patient subject to infections. Adult stem cells will be your own cells, meaning anything grown and embedded within you is really *you,* and your immune system will very likely leave it alone.

Well:

Stem cell researchers John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka honoured with Nobel prize

These two fellers, one British, the other Japanese, worked on different sides of the planet and decades apart, and both showed that adult cells could be turned into “embryonic” stem cells, thus paving the way for actual, useful and practical stem cell treatments.