Monday, January 18, 2010

Adult stem cells saved Jack Bauer's life

At the end of last season (2009) on "24," a dying Jack Bauer's only hope was an experimental stem cell treatment using adult stem cells taken from his daughter.

As the new season begins this week, we see that the procedure saved Jack's life (of course).

"24" is fiction, but adult stem cell treatments aren't. More than 70 different conditions have been successfully treated using ethical adult stem cells. Lives have been saved. Research with embryonic stem cells -- taken from living human organisms in the embryonic stage of development, killing them in the process -- has yet to produce any therapeutic benefits at all.