People of a scientistical nature have recently managed to create embryonic stem cells from skin cells. From the Reuters article:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Researchers have transformed ordinary human skin cells into batches of cells that look and act like embryonic stem cells — but without using cloning technology and without making embryos.

For those unfamiliar with the biology of the matter, embryonic stem cells are the precursors to the specialised cells found in fully developed human bodies. These cells are present during the beginning stages of pregnancy, and later branch off to perform different roles in the developing baby (though not a “baby” in the normal sense, only in relation to the end stage of development). Before now, it was impossible to (legally in the U.S.) use these cells for any productive purpose.

In the United States, the issue of Stem Cell Research has been a controversial one at best. The “right wing” (though in the U.S., it’s more like “right wing, and “righter wing”) argues that using embryonic stem cells is murder because extracting the cells will often (if not always), kill the embryo. I won’t go into the problems with this argument- believe me, there are many – but will rather focus on the implications of this discovery.

Assuming President Betch does not choose to use his veto crayon, these cells could be used in numerous fields related to biology, particularly medicine. Combined with sufficiently advanced cloning technology, the ability to regrow organs shouldn’t be far away, bypassing the dangers of rejection associated with transplants. At the moment, a person in need of a new organ can expect to wait months – if not years for a compatible organ to be found. If a new organ can be grown with the swab of a cheek, or other “verb, of a, noun” expression, the only issue is growing and implanting the new, fully functional organ.

All there is to do now is sit back, and wonder how the various governments will manage to screw this up.

Bunnymuffins.