US: Man who helped start stem cell war may end it

If the stem cell wars are indeed nearly over, no one will savour the peace more than James A Thomson. Interviewed by the New York Times, he said he had ethical concerns about embryonic research from the outset, even though he knew that it offered insights into human development and the potential for powerful new treatments for disease.

Dr Thomson’s laboratory at the University of Wisconsin was one of two that in 1998 plucked stem cells from human embryos for the first time, “destroying the embryos in the process and touching off a divisive national debate”, the newspaper reports. “And on Tuesday, his laboratory was one of two that reported a new way to turn ordinary human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without ever using a human embryo.”
Full report on the New York Times site