Restoring vision
In what is sure to add to the growing debate about embryos, stem cells and abortion, though no less impressive because of it, scientists have used retina cells from aborted fetuses to cure retinitis pigmentosa, the leading cause of blindness in “rich” countries. They harvested (which I think is a most unfortunate choice of terminology) sheets of retinal cells from donated fetuses, and it seems that the effect is long term.
Note that this is very different from using stem cells, as the latter come from embryos (the first stage of cell division, where no specific retina cells yet exist) and haven’t yet been shown to cure this type of disease. New Scientist is well aware of how sensitive an issue this is - they don’t mention where the cells come from until halfway through the article. As they point out, if this treatment becomes accepted, then there’s going to be far more patients than donated fetuses available, so the group is considering transplanting the retinal cells from pigs instead. Of course, this has its objectors as well!
My weekend hiatus begins now, as I’m off to the Londong Balboa Festival for the weekend - very exciting! Only two weeks left in the UK, too! See you all on Monday.