This article from the Boston Globe describes a promising possibility in the area of stem—cell research, dealing with primitive cells that seem to be from clumps of cells that are not really embryos. The writer gets into the nitty—gritty of what is an embryo and what is truly human.

It seems that some of the best minds in science and ethics are working hard on this. The article does not address where the human eggs are going to come from, however. There are lots of "leftover embryos" but no big supply of human eggs, which are very rarely frozen with current technology.

Nonethless, there may be some ethical possiblities for research which come out of this line of thinking.

Mary L. Davenport, MD  11 22 04