"I see no problems whatsoever in work with embryos up to fourteen days of age," said Academician Kolesnikov.
Embryonic stem cells were first separated in 1998. As they multiply, these cells can develop into any kind of human cells. So they can be used for substitution therapy to restore all malfunctioning human organs, be it liver, pancreas, vessels, heart, the nervous system or the locomotor apparatus, he explained.
"If we start intensive stem cellular therapy of infantile cerebral paralysis very early in the patients' life, a majority will come to the age of twelve months fully cured," said Dr. Sukhikh. True, stem cells can be separated from the human marrow, adipose tissue or umbilical blood, but they are far less effective than embryonic, he pointed out.
A federal law of 2002 suspends reproductive embryonic cloning throughout Russia up to 2007. Prospects of human cloning are extremely vague, so the suspension was a must, says Sergei Kolesnikov, who was on the drafting team. He, however, does not rule out the law eventually amended. Thus, the United Kingdom amended a similar law, 2002-the year Russia passed the ban-to authorise embryonic cloning in medical and research purposes.
