Free Republic

Embryonic stem-cell researchers are prone to touting the potential of their work to treat all sorts of ailments, from diabetes to Parkinson's disease. Don't bet on it, says James Sherley, a stem-cell specialist himself, who has become a notable heretic in the field. Dr. Sherley, who's embroiled in a tenure battle at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, believes destroying a human embryo to extract stem cells is unethical. So he's chosen to work only with adult stem cells. But he says his skepticism about the therapeutic value of embryonic stem cells is rooted in science. The 49-year-old MIT associate professor,...

James Sherley, a biological engineer whose opposition to embryonic stem cell research has been controversial among his peers, charges he has been denied the same freedom to challenge scientific orthodoxy afforded his white colleagues.

EMBRYONIC stem cells turn into tumours when injected into human tissue and therefore cannot be used to treat diseases, a visiting US expert said today. Professor James Sherley, a researcher in the field of adult stem cells, is one of a series of experts in Canberra to lobby MPs ahead of a conscience vote on whether a ban on therapeutic cloning should be overturned.   Prof Sherley, from Boston's Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), today said scientists had failed to reveal problems with embryonic stem cells that would prevent them being used in humans. The unique feature of embryonic stem cells...