PPL Therapeutics Inc., the company that cloned “Dolly” the sheep has revealed that it has successfully turned a skin cell of a cow into a heart cell. Up until now, scientists have been reliant upon embryonic stem cells in their quest to discover new treatments for degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. However, stem cell research has been condemned by many religious and “pro-life” groups, who believe that the harvesting of cells from embryos is unethical. PPL say that their method is more ethically acceptable as stem cells are no longer needed because they have the technology to reprogram cells, thus turning them into completely different cell lines.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.medscape.com on the 23rd February 2001
