That technique for generating embryonic-like stem cells (called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells) bypassed the need for transferring the cells into eggs, as Wilmut had done, and also averted the ethical issues attached to extracting stem cells from embryos as Thomson had done.

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While cloning stem cells is a technical breakthrough, there's already a method of deriving embryonic-like stem cells that doesn't require the use of embryos at all: induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, said Dr. George Daley, who is director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Children's Hospital Boston and an international expert in stem cells.

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But another approach to using embryonic stem cells--and cloning--has been in inventing drugs much like the ones we already have.

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This is true whether they use so-called adult stem cells, as Osiris Therapeutics and Cytori do, or the embryonic kind, like Geron.

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Weissman says these results shed doubt on the arguments against using embryonic stem cells, which are being pioneered by companies like Geron (nasdaq: GERN - news - people), Cythera and Bresagen .

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