The discovery, made by Dr. James A. Thomson, a biologist at the
             University of Wisconsin, Madison, offers great promise for new ways of
             treating disease. ES cells, which are derived from four-day-old embryos, can
             theoretically differentiate into virtually any type of human cell, from blood
             cells to skin cells. Scientists hope to find ways of using these cells to repair
             damaged tissue. About stem cell transplantation In the bone marrow, there is
             approximately 1 stem cell in every 100,000 blood cells. The bone marrow in
             the breast bone, skull, hips, ribs, and spine contains the stem cells. In the
             blood stream, the number of stem cells is about 1/100 of that in the bone
             marrow. Transplantation of these stem cells from the blood stream is
             sometimes used in addition to, or instead of, traditional bone marrow
             transplantation. The range of diseases for which bone marrow/stem cell
             transplantation can be considered has increased greatly and includes the
             The problem that surrounds all this is that Dr. Thomson's breakthrough
             work was not eligible for funding from NIH, the federal government's primary
             sponsor of biomedical research, and the sponsor of some of his other research
             projects. Instead, he set up a separate lab to work on human ES cells
             supported by private funding from the Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., and
             the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Because of the great potential
             promised by Dr. Thomson's discovery, NIH sought legal counsel from the
             Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the question of whether
             or not the ban applies to ES cell research. In January 1999, HHS concluded
             that public funds could be used for research on ES cells as long as they were
             not used for the derivation of the cells, the process that results in the
             destruction of an embryo. NIH thus began drafting guidelines governing
             funding for ES cell studies. The work was ineligible for public funding...