The New York Times reported last week on some hopeful advances in the whole area of embryonic stem cell research.

The advance is an easy-to-use technique for reprogramming a skin cell of a mouse back to the embryonic state. Embryonic cells can be induced in the laboratory to develop into many of the body’s major tissues.

If the technique can be adapted to human cells, researchers could use a patient’s skin cells to generate new heart, liver or kidney cells that might be transplantable and would not be rejected by the patient’s immune system …

The technique, if adaptable to human cells … would not involve the expensive and controversial use of human eggs, and should avoid all or almost all of the ethical criticism directed at the use of embryonic stem cells.

This seems to me like the best of both worlds – the benefits of embryonic stem cells without the destruction of human embryos. This would allow for medical research to continue while preserving the sanctity of human life in the womb.