The news about stem cell research without ethical controversies has filtered through to the viewers of Oprah Winfrey. In an interview with her house medico, Dr Mehmet Oz, and Parkinson’s disease advocate Michael J. Fox, Dr Oz said that "the stem cell debate is dead". Oprah looked rather stunned. Here’s the new message:

"I’m going to say something which is a bit provocative... I think, Oprah, the stem cell debate is dead and I’ll tell you why... The problem with embryonic stem cells is that embryonic stem cells come from embryos like all of us came from embryos and those cells can become any cell in the body. But it’s very hard to control them and so they can become cancer.

"But in the time of all this fighting we’re had, and which did slow down research, there’s been a huge amount of changes made. In the last year, we’ve made 10 years of advancement. We went places we never thought we’d go. Here’s what the deal is. I can take a little bit of your skin. take those cell, get them to go back in time, so they’re like they were when you were first made and then they will start to make that dopamine. And I think those cells, because they won’t be as prone to cancer and because they’re your genes will be the one that are ultimately used to cure Parkinson’s.

"No one can tell how fast we can do this, but I’ve talked to a lot of experts in this field and I think we’re single-digit years away from making a big impact on the lives of Parkinson’s sufferers, but also diabetics, heart attack victims. .... It could be 8 or 9 years, but it’s going to be in our lifetime and that’s exciting to all of us in medicine.

Dr Mehmet Oz is professor and vice chairman of surgery at Columbia University, director of the Cardiovascular Institute and founder and director for the Complementary Medicine Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. ~ Oprah Winfrey