1. Stem cells

2. Embryonic stem cells These are single cells
They can turn in to anything, so (theoretically) can be used to treat any type of problem
They come from 3 sources:
Leftover foetuses from IVF
Aborted foetuses
Cloned foetuses (not happened yet)

3. Adult stem cells Come from adults
They are ‘specialised’ cells (e.g. a skin cell can only be used in skin)
They come from living adults and do not cause any harm to the adult

4. Problems with embryonic cells
Embryonic cells can turn in to anything, including diseases or tumours
Removing cells destroys the embryo – some people may see this as the destruction of human life
Some people regard embryonic cell removal as discrimination of the very young
Some people believe embryos need protecting as they rely on another human (mother) for survival

5. Adult stem cells are more stable than embryonic ones, so are considered to be more useful

6. Current situation
There are no diseases being treated with embryonic cells because:
they are too expensive
they are too unstable
There are 73 diseases being treated with adult stem cells

8. The future? A future alternative is Induced Pluripotent Cells (IPCs)
IPCs are skin cells which have been ‘deprogrammed’ to become embryo-like
They do not involve the use of embryonic tissue/cells