Stem Cell Mining

Scientists at the Roslin Institute (cloned Dolly the sheep) in Scotland report that they have been able to create parthenotes (embryos developed from a female egg, without the use of a male sperm; parthenogenesis from the Greek "virgin birth"), which have divided to about 50 cells. At his time however, embryonic stem cells have not been harvested because they do not occur until the cell division gets to about 100 cells.

Obviously, if you are in favor of stem cell research, then this is exciting news because it means that instead of dealing with fertilized embryos (and dealing with pro-life whackos) you can harvest stem cells from eggs that have been electrically induced to divide. These eggs can be donated by women, or gathered from women who have elected to be sterilized. I think this is a great step since it should alleviate many of the concerns about whether of not babies are being killed in the name of scientific experimentation. Also, I would imagine that this method would make it easier to harvest a greater number of stem cells as the scientists would not have to deal with human cloning and test tube fetus issues.
I am hopeful that this research will be allowed to proceed and provide new avenues for stem cell research, and that the naysayers will get off their high horse and recognize that the results scientists are looking for are not human clones. Instead, I hope the research goes into the realm of developing Natural Killer leukocytes that are able to recognize all forms of cancer, and therefore destroy them. With this method, chemo and radiation therapy would be eliminated and the death rate from these diseases would plummet. I would like to imagine that this research would allow the development of other cell mediated defenses against viruses and antibiotic resistent bacteria.

Institute of Stem Cell Research
BBC News: 'Virgin conception' first for UK