Scoreboard Bioethics

Everyone Loses When It's Wrong

If you visit stemcellresearch.org, a website co-partnered with the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity, you'll notice a scoreboard at the bottom of the home page showing a tally of diseases successfully treated with adult stem cells (including induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs) versus embryonic stem cells. The current tallies are: Adult, 73; Embryonic, 0. But that second number is about to change.

One recent report on a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) trial touted success in restoring human vision for two conditions.¹ This success may turn the zero into a 1 or 2, and other trials now underway may...