60 Minutes on Stem Cell Research
60 Minutes recently looked at a small range of embryonic stem cell research: "These are the cells that go to make up the heart muscle cells ... They all started out as cells from embryos. With the potential to develop into any type cell. Robbins hopes to one day inject the cells, which actually beat like a heart, into someone whose heart has suffered some kind of damage. In theory, those cells would then replace the damaged part of the heart. Robbins and his team injected cells like those directly into the hearts of mice with severe cardiac disease. The researchers then tracked the cells and determined that they had stayed in the heart and that the cells were all beating in unison. After six weeks, the new heart cells had replaced the damaged ones, and heart function was restored to near normal. ... I would say that it's at least five to 10 years away before I think that we will have enough definitive data in animal studies that it will be safe to go forward with embryonic stem cells."
Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/23/60minutes/printable1341635.shtml