Where Left Is Right / The Old Site

I mentioned a couple months ago that I'd located a single-issue blog with the ambitious title, "The Beginning of Human Life" (or BOHL, as I'll refer to it here). I hadn't stopped by there recently, though. And I am glad I did, else I wouldn't have learned about a possible alternative to embryonic stem cells: placental cells. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article to which the BOHL blog linked:

University of Pittsburgh researchers have discovered that one type of cell in the human placenta has characteristics that are strikingly similar to embryonic stem cells in their ability to regenerate a wide variety of tissues.

The cells, called amniotic epithelial cells, potentially could be used to produce new liver cells to treat liver failure, or new pancreatic islet cells to cure diabetes or new neurons to treat Parkinson's disease.

Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are obtained only by destroying human embryos, these cells can be extracted from the same placentas that now are routinely discarded after birth. They thus could be a non-controversial alternative to embryonic stem cells.

I am by no means misunderestimating (as The Weasel would say) the ingenuity of the "right-to-life" movement. I know that at least one of them out there has already not just downloaded the abstract of the article in the current issue of Stem Cells. They've also paid the $15 to get access to the full article, and they are busily erecting a siege tower from which to begin the assault.

Still, this may indeed be -- as Mike, BOHL's "token conservative" says -- "the answer to the debate." Your mouth to God's ear, Mike.