Stem Cell Debate Advancing

The discovery that teams from Texas and UK have made - produce stem cells from umbilical cord blood may lead to a potential end of the ethical debate affecting stem cell research.

The researchers' findings come less than a month after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist surprised Capitol Hill by endorsing a bill to make more embryonic stem-cell research eligible for federal funding, breaking with Mr. Bush, who has said he would veto the legislation.

David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences for the Family Research Council, which advocates cord-blood and other adult stem-cell research that does not require destruction of embryos, said the research sounds "real exciting."

Mr. Prentice said it is especially interesting because it comes just two weeks after scientists at the University of Pittsburgh announced they have discovered a type of cell in the human placenta that also shares the ability of embryonic stem cells to regenerate a wide variety of tissue.

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