From the public's point of view, the shine seems to be wearing off embryonic stem cell research as the months stretch on without miracle cures. An editorial in the financial newspaper Investor's Business Daily spoke recently of the "failure" of Proposition 71, the California referendum which authorised the creation of a US$3 billion stem cell research centre. But, says the editorial, embryonic stem cells have failed to deliver. "When funding was needed, the phrase 'embryonic stem cells' was used. When actual progress was discussed, the word 'embryonic' was dropped because [embryonic stem cell research] never got out of the lab."

Even the lurid pages of London's premier tabloid, the Daily Mail, are sceptical. A recent feature focused on desperate parents taking children to China for shady stem cell treatment. The newspaper reminds its readers: "The fact is that people’s expectations about stem cells are unrealistically high, warns the International Society for Stem Cell Research, a leading body of experts. Indeed, the conventional view is that it will be years, perhaps even decades, before stem cell therapy is sufficiently understood and safe and effective enough to use widely."

Since 2001 opposing camps in the US, the UK, Australia and Europe have been debating, often heatedly, the ethics of embryonic stem cell research. Is the air hissing out of the balloon?
~ Daily Mail, Jan 19; Investor's Business Daily, Jan 12