Ian Sample (Extracted from "Challenge to Bush in new stem cell breakthrough" The Guardian, 17 October 2005)

"Scientists have perfected a way of making embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryos from which they derive, a breakthrough that will challenge George Bush's opposition to the research.

The discovery of a technique to extract stem cells without impairing the embryos could remove a major hurdle facing scientists who are trying to develop treatments for diseases such as diabetes and motor neurone disease. Religious and rightwing groups claim embryonic stem cell research is unethical because the cells are produced by creating embryos which are later destroyed."

[Ed As President Bush is now on the back foot in so many ways then, hopefully for America, he no longer has the political clout to veto this latest technique -- though no doubt America's fundamentalist Christians will still oppose it. Otherwise, Singapore, Korea and China -- and, dare I say it?, this country -- will take the lead and also attract the best young scientific brains in the world of which America, heretofore, has had the monopoly.]