Embryonic stem cells fail to provide cures

I FOUND your feature on ‘Stem cells simplified’ (June 6) most interesting.

What I thought remarkable was that not one cure has yet been found from stem cells derived from embryos. However, as your feature pointed out, cures have already been made using stem cells derived from a patient’s own body, and also from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow.

Those who attended a meeting last autumn in Cork were lucky enough to hear the testimony of 19-year-old Jacki Rabon who fractured her spine in a car accident in 2003. She was told she would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.